THE 
 
 FINE ARTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE ENGLISH SCHOOL; 
 
 I L LUST HATED BY A 
 
 SERIES OF ENGRAVINGS, 
 
 FROM 
 
 i&atnrtngg, Sculpture, anD Architecture, 
 
 OF EMINENT 
 
 ENGLISH AHTISTS: 
 
 WITH AMPLE 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL, CRITICAL, AND DESCRIPTIVE ESSAYS, 
 
 BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. 
 
 EDITED, AND PARTLY WRITTEN, DY 
 
 JOHN BRITTON, F.S.A. 
 
 YE NOBLER ARTS! AS LIFE'S LAST LUSTRE GIVES, 
 
 GILDING EARTH'S GROSSSESS WITH THE GLOSS OF HEAVEN ! — 
 
 —CODS! WHAT A GLORY WOULD INVEST HIS NAM EI 
 
 WHAT HALMS PERENNIAL SPRING AROUND HIS FAME! 
 
 WHOSE GENEROUS SPIRIT SHOULD OL'R AGE REPROVE, 
 
 AND TO THE l.li lSG ARTS EXTEND HIS LOVE. 
 
 Jpiintcn nt tljc CtfuMct ]Srces, 
 
 BY C. WHITTINGIIAM; 
 
 FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, PATERNOSTER ROW; J. TAYLOR, HIGH HOLBORN; THE EDITOR, 
 TAVISTOCK PLACE; AND W. BOND, NEWMAN STREET. LONDON. 
 
 1812. 
 
HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS 
 
 GEORGE, PRINCE OF WALES, 
 
 PRINCE REGENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM, 
 
 AS 
 
 VICE-PATRON AND PRESIDENT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BrtttsJ) gjnstttutton; 
 
 WHO HAS MANIFESTED A LOVE FOR THE FINE ARTS OF HIS NATIVE COUNTRY, AND A REFINED TASTE 
 TO APPRECIATE THEIR MERITS : — 
 
 TO 
 
 THE MOST HONOURABLE 
 
 THE MARQUIS OF STAFFORD, 
 
 AS 
 
 DEPUTY- PRESIDENT OF THE SAME LAUDABLE ESTABLISHMENT; 
 
 WHO HAS ALSO EVINCED PARTICULAR REGARD TO THE FINE ARTS: 
 
 AND TO THE OTHER 
 
 PRINCES, NOBLEMEN, GENTLEMEN, AND LADIES, 
 
 WHO HAVE ESTABLISHED AND SUPPORTED THIS DIGNIFIED 
 
 NATIONAL INSTITUTION, 
 
 THE PRESENT VOLUME, HUMBLY ADVOCATING THE SAME CAUSE, 
 
 IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, BY 
 
 JOHN BRITTON. 
 
 Jan. 1812. 
 
Contents. 
 
 V 24 Engravings. 
 
 ^ 62 Leaves of Letter Pres 
 
 Frontispiece; — Architectural 
 
 Title; — Dedication to the Prince Regent, &c. 
 
 Contents; — Preface 
 
 Portrait of John Dunning, Lord Ashburton 
 
 Memoir of that Nobleman 
 Portrait of George Romney, Painter . 
 
 Memoir of that Artist .... 
 Portrait of John, Marquis of Granby 
 
 Memoir of that great Warrior 
 Portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds 
 
 Memoir of that eminent Artist 
 Painting: — Garrick between Tragedy and Coined; 
 
 Remarks on the Subjet and Picture 
 Portrait of R. Wilson, Painter . 
 
 Memoir of that Artist .... 
 Sculpture : — Statue of " Resignation" 
 
 An Essay descriptive of the same . 
 Painting: — " Expiation of Orestes" 
 
 An Essay on the Subject 
 Sculpture:— Alto-Relievo; " Thy Kingdom come 
 
 An Essay on the Subject 
 Painting: — " Titania, Puck, &c." 
 
 Essay on the Picture .... 
 Sculpture: — A Monumental Group 
 
 Essay on the same 
 
 Painting:— The Four Angels, &c. 
 
 Essay on the same 
 
 Painting:— Earl of Argyle in Prison . 
 
 Remarks on the Painting .... 
 Painting : — Landscape; Pope's Villa 
 
 Essay on the Subject .... 
 Picture:—" Thetis and Achilles" 
 
 Remarks on the Picture 
 Sculpture:— Alto-Relievo; " Deliver us from Evi 
 
 An Essay on the Subject 
 Sculpture: — The Falling Giant 
 
 Essay on the Subject 
 Painting: — Landscape; The Cottage Door 
 
 Remarks on the Picture 
 Sculpture: — Monument to the Earl of Mansfield 
 
 Remarks on the Design .... 
 Architecture:— St. Paul's Cathedral Church. 
 
 Elevation of Western Front. Wren, Architect 
 
 Section from North to South. Ditto 
 
 An Essay on the History and Architecture 
 
 Plan of the Substructure 
 
 Perspective View : N. E. 
 
 Artists. 
 
 Engravers. 
 
 Authors. 
 
 So. of 
 I' ages 
 to each 
 Subject. 
 
 Gandy, A.R.A. 
 
 Le Keux 
 
 
 
 
 
 Britton 
 
 0 
 
 
 
 Britton 
 
 4 
 
 Reynolds 
 
 Bond 
 
 
 
 
 
 Adolphus 
 
 10 
 
 Shee, R.A. 
 
 Bond 
 
 
 
 
 
 T.Phillips, R.A. 
 
 12 
 
 Reynolds 
 
 Bond 
 
 
 
 
 
 J. M. Good 
 
 10 
 
 Reynolds 
 
 Bond 
 
 
 
 
 
 Northcote,R.A. 
 
 1-2 
 
 Reynolds 
 
 Cardon 
 
 
 
 
 
 Britton 
 
 8 
 
 Mengs 
 
 Bond 
 
 
 
 
 
 Britton 
 
 0 
 
 Flaxman, R.A. 
 
 Bond 
 
 
 
 
 
 R. Hunt 
 
 2 
 
 K.W estall, K.A. 
 
 Bond 
 
 
 
 
 
 J. L. Bond 
 
 2 
 
 Flaxman, R.A. 
 
 Bond 
 
 
 
 
 
 R. Hunt 
 
 2 
 
 G. Romney 
 
 Scriven 
 
 
 
 
 
 W. H. W. 
 
 2 
 
 Nollekens.R.A. 
 
 Godby 
 
 
 
 
 
 R. Hunt 
 
 2 
 
 Howard, R.A. 
 
 Bond 
 
 
 
 
 
 R. Hunt 
 
 o 
 
 Northcote,R.A. 
 
 Scriven 
 
 
 
 
 
 P. Hoare 
 
 0 
 
 Turner, R.A. 
 
 Pye 
 
 
 
 
 
 Britton 
 
 2 
 
 West, P.R.A. 
 
 Bond 
 
 
 
 
 
 Britton 
 
 2 
 
 Flaxman, R.A. 
 
 Bond 
 
 
 
 
 
 Britton 
 
 2 
 
 Banks, R.A. 
 
 Bond 
 
 
 
 
 
 Britton 
 
 2 
 
 Gainsborough 
 
 Scott 
 
 
 
 
 
 Britton 
 
 2 
 
 Flaxman, R.A. 
 
 Godby 
 
 
 
 
 
 Britton 
 
 2 
 
 Elmes, del. 
 
 Le Keux 
 
 
 
 Elmes, del. 
 
 LeKeux 
 
 
 
 
 
 E. Aikin 
 
 18 
 
 Elmes, del. 
 
 R. Rone 
 
 
 
 Elmes, del. 
 
 LeKeux 
 
 
 
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
 
 The object of this publication is to illustrate The Fine Arts of the English 
 School, by exhibiting-, progressively and collectively, a series of highly finished 
 Engravings, from the executed designs of the most eminent Architects, 
 Painters, and Sculptors of Great Britain. Each plate, or series of plates, repre- 
 sentative of any Edifice, will be accompanied by an historical and descriptive 
 account of the same ; with critical remarks on its design, execution, &c. To 
 every Portrait will be annexed a Biographical memoir ; and to each picture and 
 specimen of Sculpture, an appropriate essay will be subjoined. Such will be the 
 component parts of a work, which, it is hoped, will be acceptable, and will 
 ultimately prove interesting-, to the professional artist, the judicious connoisseur, 
 and to every Englishman of real taste. 
 
 The Editor having- affixed his name to this work, pledges himself to the 
 Public for its execution. He has been tempted to undertake the arduous task 
 of superintending- it, in the first instance, from a long cherished partiality for the 
 Fine Arts in general, and for those of our own country in particular ;- — to which 
 he was further induced, by an intimate acquaintance with many English Artists, 
 among- whom are some of the most distinguished members of the Royal 
 Academy; and from having- been promised the loan of pictures, and other 
 useful assistance, by some Noblemen and Gentlemen, who are not only able, but 
 willing- to forward the present undertaking- : — Circumstances which confirmed 
 him in the earnest desire of seeing an elegant literary and embellished publi- 
 cation devoted to the Fine Arts of Great Britain. To these motives may be 
 added, a conviction that his co-adjutors are equally anxious to secure credit and 
 honour to themselves, by faithfully and emulously discharging- their respective 
 duties ; and by a determination to co-operate in any, and every plan that may 
 be calculated to enhance the interest and merit of the work. 
 
 It is not the wish or intention of the Editor to write many articles himself, when 
 
 b 
 
FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 he can obtain more competent assistance ; because he is aware there are many 
 Gentlemen much better qualified to inform and satisfy the reader on subjects of 
 fine art, learning and science. He will, therefore, on all occasions, solicit the aid 
 of those, who, by particular study, or superiority of talent, are better capacitated 
 to write critically and scientifically on the respective branches of Biography, 
 Architecture, Painting and Sculpture. As few professional artists, however, will 
 choose to publish their opinions, freely, on the productions of their contem- 
 poraries, the Editor, himself, will occasionally feel it an incumbent duty to furnish 
 the reader with the best account he is capable of writing. Yet he must solicit 
 lenity in such cases; for as his essays will be written under the impression of 
 considerable diffidence, he hopes to experience more of mercy than justice at the 
 literary tribunal. Indeed, on his own, as well as on the writings and perform- 
 ances of others, he must deprecate that severity of criticism which reproves 
 every thing short of excellence : for the proprietors cannot hope to render their 
 work uniformly unexceptionable ; but it will be their pride and pleasure to profit 
 by experience, to adopt the suggestions of liberal and judicious advice, and to 
 improve on, rather than recede from, the merit of their first specimens. Hence 
 it is expected that the enlightened artist, and ingenuous critic will rather point 
 out what will contribute towards the attainment of perfection, than by invidious 
 censure decry the performance for not attaining it. 
 
 As it is the duty, so it will be the pride, of the Editor to superintend, with 
 scrupulous solicitude, the progress of a literary and graphic edifice, in the 
 construction of which the Architect shall have a fair site to display his elevations, 
 and be supplied with the best materials to raise the superstructure ; whilst the 
 Sculptor and Painter will find their names clearly and fully recorded on their 
 respective works, and these disposed in the best lights. It will be apparent to the 
 discriminating connoisseur, that the present work may prove highly beneficial to 
 the cause of English Art: for it is intended to give publicity to various designs, 
 and at the same time to explain and develope the intentions and principles of 
 the different artists ; to introduce their works, in a portable, but handsome form, 
 to the elegant library ; and to call the attention of the British Public to the three 
 accomplished graces of Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting. 
 
 In spite of the raging devastations of war, the much regretted cabals of party- 
 
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
 
 iii 
 
 politicians, and the serious privations which Englishmen must endure from these 
 joint calamities, the present time is chosen for the commencement of a work 
 devoted to peace, to the refinements of polished life, and to the pleasures of 
 intellect. " The liberal, or fine Arts," observes one of the most ingenuous 
 writers of the age, and who is, also, well qualified to appreciate their merits, " are 
 endowed with two distinct qualities; the one of instructing, the other of 
 pleasing : and their highest praise arises from the combination of these two 
 qualities, and from their success in thus conveying instruction by the means of 
 pleasure V 
 
 At a time when many splendid works are published, and in the progress 
 of publication, to illustrate and exalt the ancient schools of art, and parti- 
 cularly that of the French; it is presumed that one devoted to the English 
 School can neither be deemed irrelevant nor unacceptable : for the productions 
 of our native Artists are at length gradually attaining- their just appreciation. 
 The best works of Reynolds, Hogarth, Wilson, Gainsborough, Mortimer, 
 Wright, Romney, Barry, Opie, &c. are now sought for with avidity, and 
 treasured according to their respective merits. A " British Institution" is also 
 formed to promote and cherish native Genius ; and living Artists are laudably 
 emulous of professional fame. Under such circumstances, an embellished literary 
 work, truly English in every part of its construction, may, it is presumed, without 
 arrogance, prefer its claim to English patronage. 
 
 It has frequently been noticed, in terms of regret, or reproachful complaint, 
 that the connoisseurs, and collectors, of this country, have been too indiscrimi- 
 nate in praising, and purchasing pictures of the old Masters, and have thence 
 expended large sums of money to enrich speculating picture-dealers ; whilst native 
 artists, of acknowledged talents, and pictures of pre-eminent merit, have been 
 neglected. This accusation is certainly founded on facts; but it does not so 
 strictly apply to the commencement of the nineteenth century, as to the middle 
 of the last; since a few royal, noble and distinguished personages have set 
 the laudable example of purchasing- English pictures, and have manifested some 
 courage, and much taste in appropriating to them exclusive galleries, or apart- 
 ments. His Majesty graciously led the way ; the Prince of Wales followed : 
 ' " The Artist," No. 13, by Prince Hoare. 
 
Jy FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 and among- many Noblemen and Gentlemen who have shewn a disposition to 
 emulate this noble trait of patriotism and refinement, may be recorded the names 
 of the Marquis of Stafford ; Earl Grosvenor; Earl of Essex; Earl of Egremont ; 
 Lord Mulgrave ; Sir John Fleming- Leycester, Bart. ; Sir Francis Baring, Bart. ; 
 Sir George Beaumont, Bart. ; Alexander Davison, Esq. ; Thomas Hope, Esq. ; 
 Thomas Bernard, Esq. ; Thomas Lister Parker, Esq. ; William Smith, Esq. M. P. ; 
 George Hibbert, Esq. ; Henry Hope, Esq. ; Charles Hoare, Esq. ; Caleb White- 
 
 foord, Esq. ; Leader, Esq. ; and Captain Agar. A more particular list of 
 
 these patrons of the English School will be hereafter given ; and in the course 
 of this work, it is proposed to publish a concise Account of the Galleries and 
 Collections which are either wholly, or principally appropriated to the pictures 
 of British Artists. Lists, with some particulars, of the most noted specimens of 
 Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, will also be collected, and preserved in 
 these pages. 
 
 A List of Subscribers to this Work is intended to be printed; and in order to 
 record the names of the persons who thus manifest a partiality to the cause, and 
 subjects herein advocated, or for any other purpose connected with the work, 
 Gentlemen are solicited to send their names, &c. to either of the publishers, or to 
 
 J. Britton, Tavistock Place, Russell Square. 
 
 London, Jan. 1810. 
 
A BRIEF 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR 
 
 OS 
 
 JOHN DUNNING, LORD ASHBURTON; 
 
 BY JOHN ADOLPHUS, ESQ. F.S.A. 
 
 WITH AN ENGRAVED PORTRAIT BY W. BOND, FROM A PICTURE BY 
 
 ®it 3l08[ma iRegnoItus. 
 
 The lives of lawyers, however distinguished they may have been in their 
 profession, seldom afford ample or interesting materials for biography. Of 
 Mr. Dunning, eminent as he was, only a few unsatisfactory traces are to be found 
 in the books of the law reporters. His efforts in parliament are more distinctly 
 recorded ; but even the perusal of them will not present so complete a picture 
 of his talents, as might have been gained, if, in only a few instances, he had 
 published his own speeches, or revised the reports of them collected by other 
 persons. 
 
 John Dunning, descended from an ancient family, was born at Ashburton, 
 in Devonshire, the 18th of October, 1731, and received, by the care of his 
 father, who intended him for the profession of the law, a liberal education. 
 Of his first essays at the bar no exact memorials are preserved ; but his name 
 begins to be recorded in the books of Reports about the year 1759, when he 
 was only twenty-eight years old. Soon after this period he was, if not first, 
 in the very first line of practice ; he was elected Recorder of Bristol, and, 
 on the 6th of January, 1768, Mr. Willes being appointed one of the Judges 
 of the Court of King's Bench, Mr. Dunning succeeded him in the office of 
 Solicitor General. On the dissolution of parliament, in the same year, he 
 
2 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 obtained, through the friendship of Lord Shelburne, a seat, as representative 
 of the borough of Calne, in Wiltshire. 
 
 At first, Mr. Dunning was attached to the administration ; but his approba- 
 tion of their measures does not seem to have been cordial, nor without consi- 
 derable exceptions ; and he was not engaged on behalf of government in the 
 celebrated proceedings in the case of Wilkes, which were more particularly 
 agitated while he was Solicitor General. The ministry with which he was con- 
 nected was indeed composed of materials too heterogeneous to continue long- 
 combined ; and, in 1770, when the expulsion of Lord Camden from the dignity 
 of Chancellor, and the subsequent death of Mr. Yorke, his appointed successor, 
 were followed by the resignations of the Marquis of Granby, and other dis- 
 tinguished personages, Mr. Dunning also gave in his resignation, although he 
 consented to hold his office until the appointment of a successor ; the interval 
 was two months, and the successor was Thurlow. 
 
 The city of London, highly approving his conduct on this occasion, sent 
 him the freedom of their corporation in a gold box, value one hundred guineas, 
 for having, as they expressed it, " when Solicitor General to his Majesty, 
 defended in parliament, on the soundest principles of law and the constitution, 
 the right of the subject to petition and remonstrate." To this compliment 
 Mr. Dunning returned a polite and dignified answer. He acknowledged, in 
 proper terms, his sense of the honour done him by the city, and said, " Con- 
 vinced as I am, that our happy constitution has given us the most perfect 
 system of government the world has ever seen, and that it is therefore our 
 common interest and duty to oppose every practice, and combat every prin- 
 ciple, that tends to impair it, any other conduct than that which the city of 
 London has been pleased to distinguish by its approbation, must, in my own 
 judgment, have rendered me equally unworthy of the office I had then the 
 honour to hold, through his Majesty's favour, and of the trust reposed in me, as 
 one of the representatives of the People." 
 
 Consistently with the sentiments expressed in this letter, Mr. Dunning had 
 supported, in 1770, Mr. Grenville's Bill for regulating the proceedings of the 
 House of Commons, on controverted elections, although it was opposed by Lord 
 North, Mr. Fox, and many other members of great influence and authority. In 
 
MEMOIRS OF JOHN DUNNING, LORD ASHBURTON. 
 
 3 
 
 February, 1774, when Sir Edward Stanley moved for leave to bring- in a Bill, 
 to render this law perpetual, and was opposed by the persons already mentioned, 
 and some others, Mr. Dunning - humorously apologized for supporting the 
 motion. The act, he said, had done him great injury ; for, since it passed, not 
 one trial had come into Westminster Hall ; and, he was confident, were it 
 made perpetual, there never would be one. Yet he would always sacrifice 
 private emolument to public g'ood : and he would venture to say, that at a 
 general election it would be found, even with all its defects, a glorious act. 
 
 In the year 1770, he supported a motion made by Serjeant Glynn for a com- 
 mittee to inquire into the administration of justice, in cases relating- to the 
 liberty of the press ; and although the effort was not crowned with success, it 
 added to his fame as an orator, a lawyer, and a friend of liberty. 
 
 In 1772, he co-operated with Sir William Meredith in patronizing- a peti- 
 tion from some of the clergy, and some members of the professions of civil law 
 and physic, praying- relief from subscription to the thirty-nine articles. This 
 celebrated attempt of the dissenters, after a strenuous debate, failed by a 
 majority of 217 to 72. 
 
 Before the dissolution of this parliament, the disputes between Great Britain 
 and the American colonies had proceeded to that fatal extent, which occa- 
 sioned a long- and expensive war, and the final separation of the provinces 
 from the parent state. Throughout this contest, Mr. Dunning- opposed the 
 proceedings of government, and resisted almost all their measures, whether of 
 coercion or conciliation. 
 
 Against the Bill for shutting- Boston port, little opposition was made, and no 
 division took place ; but when two others immediately followed, for altering- 
 the constitution of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, Mr. Dunning contended 
 against depriving- the Americans of that great pillar of the constitution, the 
 appeal for murder. The precedent, once instituted, might operate as an ex- 
 ample for taking- it away in Great Britain, as well as the colonies, and he 
 deprecated these measures, as tending to disunite the affections of the American 
 subjects from this country. In like manner, he opposed the Bill for the go- 
 vernment of Canada, as destructive of every principle of freedom, and abounding- 
 with mischief. 
 
4 
 
 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 The exertions of Mr. Dunning in this parliament, and his unrivalled reputa- 
 tion at the bar, caused him to be considered one of the most active and for- 
 midable of the powerful band, which, in the next House of Commons, united 
 under Mr. Fox and Mr. Burke, to oppose the administration of Lord North. 
 
 In the first session of the new parliament (1774-5,) he, on every occasion, 
 vindicated the proceedings of the Americans. Notwithstanding their armed 
 resistance to government, and the seizure of forts and arms belonging to the 
 crown, he insisted that they were not in rebellion; and that every appear- 
 ance of riot, disorder, tumult, and sedition, arose, not from disobedience or 
 treason, but was created by the conduct of those whose views were to establish 
 despotism in America, as a prelude to realizing the same wicked system in 
 the mother-country. 
 
 In this session too, Mr. Dunning fixed the practice of the House, in receiving 
 petitions under the Grenville Act, in opposition to the opinions of Mr. Thurlow 
 and Mr. Fox ; and in the notorious cases of Saltash and Shaftesbury, he showed 
 a rigid abhorrence of the corruption and bribery which stigmatized those 
 boroughs. 
 
 In the session of 1775-6, although the Americans had so far thrown off all 
 disguise as to attack the King's troops, Mr. Dunning did not approve of the 
 project entertained by administration, to subdue them by force ; he opposed 
 the address on the King's speech, and resisted, in every shape, the employment of 
 foreign soldiers in the British service. He dwelt with peculiar severity on the 
 auxiliaries, which the administration had called to the assistance of the British 
 constitution ; Catholics from Canada ; Irish papists ; a new militia in England, 
 composed of a description of men exceedingly different from those who formed 
 the old one; a Scotch militia, of a description he would not name; Hano- 
 verian mercenaries to garrison the two great fortresses of the Mediterranean ; 
 and, to crown the whole, 20,000 Hessians, to protect the legislative authority 
 of this country. But his indignation was still more vehemently excited, when 
 the ministry proposed to draw from Ireland 4,000 of her regulars, and replace 
 them with an equal number of foreign protestant troops, if it should be the 
 desire of the Irish parliament. Against this measure he directed, though 
 without effect, repeated efforts of his wit and eloquence. 
 
MEMOIRS OF JOHN DUNNING, LORD ASHBURTON. 
 
 5 
 
 In the following- session, the contest between England and the colonies be- 
 coming- more violent, few hopes were entertained of bringing- it to an amicable 
 conclusion ; indeed the refusal of Congress to treat with the Commissioners sent 
 out by government, unless the independence of America were previously 
 acknowledged, seemed to destroy every expectation of an adjustment. Yet the 
 members of opposition frequently renewed motions apparently calculated to 
 conciliate ; and Mr. Dunning- supported one made by Lord John Cavendish, 
 that the House should resolve itself into a committee, to consider of the revisal 
 of all acts of parliament by which his Majesty's subjects in America considered 
 themselves aggrieved. 
 
 The suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act met with the decided hostility 
 of Mr. Dunning-. His veneration for the constitution, and love of the liberty 
 of his country, were well known. He considered the freedom of the subject, 
 not as a thing- conceded at different periods, and to be construed strictly 
 according- to the terms of the grant; but as an ancient inherent right, never 
 invaded but by tyranny, nor restricted but by encroachment. He had insisted 
 that the Bill of Rights was only declaratory of rights existing- prior to that act ; 
 that therefore the people were not to confine their claims to the literal words 
 of it, but to recur to the great principles upon which that declaration was made. 
 He did not therefore debate the Bill upon legal grounds ; for where there was 
 no reason or justice, there could be no law. Law supposes a rule, defines the 
 offence, annexes the punishment, and directs all the intermediate steps between 
 the charge and conviction, and prescribes the measure and quantity of the 
 punishment. " But in this Bill," he said, " no crime is imputable, no exami- 
 nation of innocence or criminality is to follow. The punishment is inflicted 
 in the first instance, on the ground of mere suspicion. If its only effect were 
 to establish a precedent, I should be against it : but, on the whole, I deem it a 
 most formidable, dangerous, and, I fear, fatal attack upon liberty, directed at 
 its very vitals, and threatening its total destruction, if not a dissolution of the 
 constitution." On the third reading-, he offered an amendment, somewhat 
 limiting its operation, which with a slight alteration was adopted, and the event 
 produced a brilliant speech of exultation and compliment from Mr. Fox. 
 
 It was in this session that Sir Fletcher Norton, the Speaker, apparently 
 
 c 
 
g FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 attached himself rather to the opposition than to the ministerial party ; and on 
 carrying up, for the royal assent, an Act for making an addition to the civil list, 
 addressed to the King that celebrated speech, wherein he asserted that the 
 Commons had not only granted a large present supply, but also a very great 
 additional revenue ;— great, beyond example ; great, beyond his Majesty's highest 
 expense; or, as some members insisted, the word was, beyond his highest wants. 
 This speech had been printed by order of the House ; but many members 
 considered the Speaker's conduct highly censurable : Mr. Rigby particularly 
 mentioned it in terms of great asperity. The Speaker making an appeal to the 
 House, his cause was warmly espoused by Mr. Dunning, who treated the attack 
 as a blow ultimately aimed at the Commons, and an experiment to see to what 
 degree of humiliation and disgrace they would bear to be reduced. In con- 
 clusion, thanks were voted to the Speaker for the obnoxious address. 
 
 In 1778, when it became evident that France would declare in favour of the 
 revolted colonies, Mr. Dunning, in common with all who felt for the honour of 
 the country, expressed a strong desire to preserve the dependency of America; 
 and reprobated the notion of submitting to a separation, to be effected by the 
 colonsits themselves, or forced by their allies. 
 
 In this session too, he showed his principles of religious toleration, by second- 
 ing a motion made by Sir George Savile, for leave to bring in the celebrated 
 Bill for repeal of certain penalties and disabilities affecting the Roman catholics. 
 His speech on this occasion displayed extensive ability, profound knowledge, 
 and great liberality. 
 
 In the same session, a Bill passed the House of Commons for relief of pro- 
 testant dissenters, in which a clause was introduced, obliging every one who 
 wished to enjoy its benefits to make a solemn declaration, that he was a 
 christian, and a protestant dissenter; and that he took the holy scriptures, both 
 of the Old and New Testament, as they are generally received in protestant 
 countries, for the rule of his faith and practice. Mr. Dunning vehemently 
 objected to any test, and maintained that the enjoyment of any right, civil or 
 religious, in a free government, ought not to be clogged with restrictions; 
 that government having secured the established religion by law, and confined 
 all the honours and emoluments of the church to the ministers of that religion. 
 
MEMOIRS OF JOHN DUNNING, LORD ASHBURTON. 
 
 7 
 
 all dissenters, while they behaved themselves as loyal subjects, ought to enjoy, 
 without restraint, their own opinions, as a common right belonging- to them 
 by the very nature of the constitution. Many of the protestant dissenting 
 ministers, he said, had authorized him, by a written paper, to declare, that as 
 they and their followers throughout Europe denied the authority of the civil 
 magistrate in matters of religion, they could not consistently sign a test which 
 should admit of that authority. He was apprehensive, therefore, that this 
 Bill, instead of affording- them relief, would be an Act for oppressing them. 
 It was thrown out in the upper House. 
 
 As the session which began in 1779 was one of the most eventful in the 
 annals of England, so it was the most conspicuous in the life of Mr. Dunning. 
 At this period, the distracted state of Ireland, the unsuccessful progress of the 
 war in America, and the degraded condition of the English navy, excited 
 general alarm and indignation. The divisions in the Cabinet increased the 
 ferment and apprehensions of the nation, and induced many independent mem- 
 bers of the House of Commons, who were warm friends to government, to 
 second the efforts of opposition. At this time too, the spirit of disaffection 
 was studiously excited in England, by appeals to the people on the subject of 
 economy, mixed with intimations, or rather direct assertions, that the vast 
 expenses of government were not only detrimental to the pecuniary interests of 
 the people, but that the supplies extorted from them were employed to extend 
 the undue influence of the crown. 
 
 Motions and propositions on the subject of economy and retrenchment were 
 offered to both Houses of Parliament, particularly by the Duke of Richmond 
 and Mr. Burke. During- the Christinas recess, a meeting of the freeholders of 
 Yorkshire voted a petition to the House of Commons, representing-, that by 
 the grant of sinecure places, or efficient offices with exorbitant emoluments, 
 and pensions unmerited by public services, the crown had acquired a great 
 unconstitutional influence, portending destruction to the liberties of the 
 country. Parliament, they said, ought not to grant any additional sums, beyond 
 the existing- taxes, until effectual measures were taken for inquiring into, and 
 correcting, the gross abuses in the expenditure of public money, reducing 
 all exorbitant emoluments, rescinding" and abolishing" all sinecure places and 
 
FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 unmerited pensions, and appropriating the produce to the necessities of the 
 state ; and they appointed a committee of correspondence, and an association, 
 to support a laudable reform. This example was followed by many other 
 counties and cities throughout the kingdom ; and finally by the city of London. 
 In many places counter-meetings were held, counter-petitions framed, and 
 protests subscribed; but the system, combination, and popularity of the asso- 
 ciators, generally prevailed. 
 
 Mr. Dunning strenuously defended the cause of these petitioners; enforced 
 all the propositions made for giving effect to Mr. Burke's plan ; and exerted 
 himself particularly in support of a motion by Sir George Savile, for an address 
 requesting the King to lay before the House an account of all subsisting 
 pensions granted by the crown. Lord North having proposed an amendment, 
 Mr. Dunning vehemently reprobated that expedient, as a piece of state-craft, 
 calculated to deprive the people of every hope that their petitions would have 
 the desired effect. The minister gained his amendment by a majority of two 
 only; the numbers being 188 to 186. 
 
 Mr. Dunning also supported the abolition of the Board of Trade, which was 
 finally effected ; a Bill for excluding contractors from seats in parliament passed 
 the lower, but was lost in the upper House ; and one for preventing revenue 
 officers from voting at elections was rejected only by a small majority. In all 
 the debates of this session, the most licentious invectives were indulged ; and it 
 appeared the wish of political opponents to urge parliamentary altercation to 
 unpardonable extremes of personal animosity. In consequence of some words 
 spoken in the House, Mr. Adam engaged in a duel with Mr. Fox, and wounded 
 him slightly in the body ; Lord Shelburne had a similar rencontre with Colonel 
 Fullarton ; and a violent altercation took place between Lord North and the 
 Speaker, who considered himself injured by the intended appointment of Lord 
 Loughborough to be Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and most injudi- 
 ciously, as well as indecently, made his complaint on the subject in parliament. 
 
 During these violent altercations, petitions were daily laid before the House, 
 in introducing which many members used language not merely strong, but 
 intemperate. Sir George Savile intimated, that, until the petitioners received 
 some assurance of relief, it would be advisable to vote the loan piecemeal, 
 
MEMOIRS OF JOHN DUNNING, LORD ASHBURTON. 
 
 9 
 
 according to the requisitions of the public service ; and when the committee 
 brought up the report of Ways and Means, a motion was made for deferring 
 it till the day after that appointed for discussing the petitions ; but the propo- 
 sition was feebly supported, and rejected by a larg-e majority. 
 
 The important day of debate at length arrived. A public meeting was 
 held in Westminster; the military were drawn forth, and stationed near West- 
 minster Hall ; a call of the House was ordered, and petitions continued to be 
 presented till the latest moment. 
 
 Mr. Dunning opened the business of the day. Independently of the great 
 objects recommended to the attention of parliament by the petitions, varying' 
 according to the particular ideas of the several classes of petitioners, there was 
 one great fundamental point, he observed, on which they all hinged, that of 
 setting limits to, and paring down, the increased, dangerous, and alarming 
 influence of the crown, and an economical expenditure of the public money. 
 In one view, both these objects might be consolidated into one principle: if the 
 public money were faithfully applied, and frugally expended, that would reduce 
 the influence of the crown ; or, if the influence of the crown were restrained 
 within its natural and constitutional limits, it would restore that power which 
 the constitution had vested in the House, of inquiring into and controlling the 
 expenditure of public money. The minister and his friends had asserted, in 
 contradiction to the petitioners, that the influence of the crown was not too 
 extensive, and ought not to be retrenched ; and that the House was not com- 
 petent to inquire into the expenditure of the civil list. To bring these points 
 fairly to issue, he would abstract from the petitions two propositions, short, 
 simple, and calculated to draw forth a direct affirmative or negative. If the 
 committee agreed in them, he should propose real, substantive, practical mea- 
 sures ; but should they disagree or dissent, or endeavour to evade or procras- 
 tinate, there would be, at once, an end of the petitions, and a full answer to 
 the petitioners. His first proposition was, " that the influence of the crown has 
 increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished." 
 
 This motion, after a long and most anxious debate, in which Mr. Dunning 
 rose several times to explain, was carried by a majority of 18. The numbers 
 were ; for the motion 233 ; against it 215. 
 
 D 
 
10 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 Mr. Dunning then moved a second resolution. " that it was competent to 
 the House, whenever they thought proper, to examine into, and correct abuses 
 in the expenditure of the civil list revenues." To this proposition only a feeble 
 resistance was offered. A third motion, made by Mr. Thomas Pitt, also passed 
 without a division ; affirming, that it was the duty of the House to provide 
 immediate and effectual redress of the abuses complained of in the petitions. 
 At past one o'clock in the morning, Mr. Fox moved that the resolutions should 
 be immediately reported ; Lord North in vain opposed the proceeding, as violent, 
 arbitrary, and unusual ; the report was brought up, and the House adjourned. 
 
 This most signal event took place on the 6th of April, 1780; on the 10th, 
 the House having again resolved itself into a committee, Mr. Dunning moved, 
 that, in order to secure the independence of parliament, and obviate all suspi- 
 cions of its purity, the proper officer should, in future, within seven days after 
 the meeting, lay before the House an account of all monies paid out of the 
 civil list, or any part of the public revenue, to, or for the use of, or in trust for, 
 any member of parliament. Slight objections were made to the motion, as 
 proposing a test which might be unpleasant to the upper House, and beget 
 differences; but it was carried without a division. Mr. Dunning next proposed 
 a resolution, that the treasurer of the chamber, treasurer, cofferer, comptroller, 
 and master of the Household, the clerks of the green cloth, and their deputies, 
 should be rendered incapable of sitting in the House of Commons. This 
 motion encountered considerable resistance, and on a division of the committee, 
 the majority in favour of the opposition party was reduced to two. 
 
 Before the next sitting of the committee, the indisposition of the Speaker 
 occasioned an adjournment of ten days, which was moved by Mr. Dunning, 
 and sanctioned by the general body of opposition. When the Speaker reco- 
 vered, Mr. Dunning moved an address, requesting the King " not to dissolve 
 the parliament, or prorogue the session, till proper measures should be adopted 
 for diminishing the influence of the crown, and correcting the other evils 
 complained of in the petitions." 
 
 This proposition being rejected by a majority of fifty-one, Mr. Fox ex- 
 pressed unbounded indignation against those who had deserted the vote they 
 had given on the 6th of April ; and Mr. Dunning said, he should propose no 
 
MEMOIRS OF JOHN DUNNING, LORD ASIIBURTON. 1 1 
 
 further motions; his labours and assiduities were already determined. He 
 moved that the committee might be adjourned, and kept open for a few days ; 
 but his intention was only to give other gentlemen an opportunity of conveying 
 their sentiments through that medium to the House. In fact, this defeat of 
 opposition concluded the discussion. A motion by Serjeant Adair, for with- 
 holding the grant of further supplies, till the grievances of the people were 
 redressed, was negatived without a debate ; and when Mr. Dunning moved to 
 receive the report of the committee on the 10th of April, the question for the 
 chairman's quitting the chair was carried by a majority of forty-three. 
 
 Such was the termination of this famous contest, which, considering the 
 means used to interest the people at large, the strenuous exertions of opposition, 
 the alarming tendency of the resolutions past on the 6th and 10th of April, and 
 the menacing aspect of the times, may be safely pronounced one of the most 
 critical struggles which the constitution had sustained since the Revolution. 
 
 The extreme irritation which marked the proceedings of this session was 
 allayed by that alarming explosion of popular fury, the riots in June ; a consi- 
 derable portion of good-humour was restored by some temporary successes in 
 America; and the minister found it perfectly safe to dissolve the parliament 
 in the autumn. 
 
 Mr. Dunning was again returned for Calne, and it may be proper in this 
 interval to mention the unrivalled consideration in which he was held. At the 
 Bar, he was beyond competition the first in practice and estimation, and his 
 popularity was at least equal, but perhaps in a general view superior, to that 
 of any member of opposition. It were endless to cite the numerous acknow- 
 ledgments on this head which are scattered in contemporary speeches and 
 writings ; but the judgments of Dr. Johnson, Mr. Gibbon, and Mr. Burke, must 
 be allowed to have irresistible weight. 
 
 The opinion of Dr. Johnson is disclosed in an anecdote by Mr. Boswell. « I 
 told Dr. Johnson," he says, « that I had talked of him to Mr. Dunning a few 
 days before, and had said, that in his company we did not so much interchange 
 conversation as listen to him ; and that Dunning observed upon this, " One is 
 always willing to listen to Dr. Johnson to which I answered, " That is a 
 great deal from you, Sir."—" Yes, Sir, (said Johnson) a great deal indeed. 
 
\2 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 Here is a man willing to listen, to whom the world is listening all the rest of 
 the year." Yet in politics, Dr. Johnson differed widely from Mr. Dunning. 
 No less different was Mr. Gibbon ; and even while smarting under the loss of his 
 appointment as a member of the Board of Trade, he celebrates this great 
 lawyer among the distinguished ornaments of the House of Commons. 
 
 These praises indeed are brief and cold, compared with the more animated and 
 splendid eulogy of Mr. Burke, in his speech to the electors of Bristol, when he 
 was unsuccessfully a candidate again to represent that city, in 1780. Speaking 
 of the Bill for relieving the Catholics, and having highly panegyrised Sir George 
 Savile, the mover of that measure, he proceeded : " The seconder was worthy 
 of the mover, and the motion. I was not the seconder; it was Mr. Dunning, 
 Recorder of this city. I shall say the less of him, because his near relation 
 to you makes you more particularly acquainted with his merits. But I should 
 appear little acquainted with them, or little sensible of them, if I could utter 
 his name on this occasion, without expressing my esteem for his character. I 
 am not afraid of offending a most learned body, and most jealous of its repu- 
 tation for that learning, when I say he is the first of his profession. It is a 
 point settled by those who settle every thing else ; and I must add (what I am 
 enabled to say from my own long and close observation) that there is not a 
 man, of any profession, or in any situation, of a more erect and independent 
 spirit; of a more proud honour; a more manly mind; a more firm and deter- 
 mined integrity." 
 
 The new parliament met the 31st of October, 1780. On the first day, Mr. 
 Dunning had occasion to exert himself on behalf of Sir Fletcher Norton, whose 
 late hostility to ministers occasioned his expulsion from the chair of the House. 
 Mr. Cornwall was proposed by ministers, who assigned as a reason for passing 
 over the late Speaker, his precarious state of health. Mr. Dunning derided 
 the minister for alleging such a reason, while Sir Fletcher Norton had not 
 solicited or sanctioned the demand of indulgence, and was actually in the 
 House as well, as fully in health, and as capable of executing the duties of 
 the office, as when he was first chosen to fill the chair. 
 
 Mr. Dunning's exertions in this session, though frequent, were not conspi- 
 cuous. He entered into the motions respecting Sir Hugh Pailiser and Admiral 
 
MEMOIRS OF JOHN DUNNING, LORD ASHBURTOIf. 
 
 [3 
 
 Keppel ; but his principal effort was, when he seconded a motion by Sir George 
 Savile, for referring to a committee of the whole House, a petition signed by 
 certain delegates in corresponding- committees, praying- for measures of reform, 
 similar to those agitated in the last parliament. The petition having-, under 
 these circumstances, been objected to as illegal, Mr. Dunning defended asso- 
 ciations and delegations, as strictly conformable to the spirit of the constitution, 
 and not contrary to the letter of the law. If it was true, he said, that the 
 people had a right to petition the legislature, they had a right to assemble 
 for that purpose; and while their meeting was sober, peaceable, and orderly, it 
 was strictly legal. Associations, committees of correspondence, and delegations, 
 were not criminal, merely because they were such ; but their illegality was to 
 be deduced from the intentions with which they were formed, and the designs 
 they had to pursue. An association begun for the purpose of curtailing- the 
 legislature, of destroying one of the three constituent branches, of dethroning- 
 the King, of resisting- the execution of the laws, or of altering the established 
 religion, would be highly criminal ; but, if ever a period should arrive, when 
 the three branches of the legislature should, by an unconstitutional coalition, 
 meet in one mass, and fail to have distinct opinions, and distinct independence ; 
 or if the Commons should become the slaves of either or of both the other 
 powers, then it would be no longer illegal for the commonalty of Britain to 
 resume their just share in the legislature; and the means by which they accom- 
 plished it, whether by associations, by remonstrances, or by force, would be, 
 not only right, but laudable. 
 
 In the following- session, the disasters attending- the progress of the war, 
 rather than the strength of the adverse party, forced the ministry from their 
 seats. In this parliament, however, the ranks of opposition were reinforced 
 by two most powerful and splendid names, Mr. Pitt and Mr. Sheridan. Mr. 
 Dunning appeared in the House of Commons, during- the final conflict, as the 
 supporter of the sentiments of Lord Shelburne ; like that nobleman, he declared, 
 he was not ready to give up the dependency of America ; for the ruin of this 
 country would be accomplished, when America was acknowledged to be inde- 
 pendent. 
 
 After the ministry had been several times in a minority, and a vote of censure 
 
 E 
 
14 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 threatened in both Houses, was averted only by the promise of their resigna- 
 tion, Mr. Dunning, on the 25th of March, 1782, said he was enabled, through 
 some communication he had had with a most respectable member of the upper 
 House, to inform gentlemen, that arrangements were making for forming a 
 new administration, which he trusted would meet the wishes of the House, 
 and of the nation at large ; and he moved an adjournment. 
 
 This was the last time Mr. Dunning addressed the House of Commons ; for, 
 as a part of the new arrangement, he received the office of Chancellor of the 
 duchy of Lancaster for life, with a seat in the cabinet ; and was raised to the 
 peerage, by the title of Baron Ashburton of Ashburton in Devonshire. 
 
 To others, a peerage is often a retreat from the necessity of exertion, when 
 energy is relaxed by lassitude, or zeal has cooled into indifference ; but Lord 
 Ashburton, called to the upper House at the early age of fifty-one, might have 
 been expected to benefit his party and the public, by a long exercise of his 
 admirable talents, and to have closed his useful career on one of the most 
 exalted seats of magistracy. He must become less popular, by being withdrawn 
 from the daily admiration he acquired at the Bar, and through the solemn 
 dignity of the assembly in which he was placed ; but his attention being more 
 concentrated, the senate and the cabinet might have derived increased benefits 
 from his knowledge and application. Such were the hopes formed on his 
 elevation ; but an early death prevented them from being realized. 
 
 In Lord Ashburton's first session, he found his new situation beset with diffi- 
 culties and anxieties. Lord Thurlow, who continued in office as Chancellor, 
 was not connected in principles or in affections with any of his coadjutors ; and 
 Lord Mansfield, although more mild in manners, was not less resolutely hostile 
 to them. They both personally disliked many of the peers attached to the new 
 administration, and both were obnoxious to Sir Fletcher Norton, who was also, 
 on the change, raised to the peerage, by the title of Lord Grantley. The 
 disagreements between these noble Lords more than once called for the inter- 
 vention of Lord Ashburton ; but the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief 
 Justice differed from the general supporters of administration in many points. 
 
 Lord Ashburton supported the Bill for excluding contractors from parlia- 
 ment; but moved an amendment, in favour of those who dealt only in the 
 
MEMOIRS OF JOHN DUNNING, LORD ASHBURTON. 
 
 IS 
 
 growth, produce, or manufacture of their own estates. In this he was sup- 
 ported by Lord Grantley, but opposed by the Chancellor and Lord Loughbo- 
 rough, and the clause was not settled until the House had divided three times. 
 
 Similar opposition was made to the Bill for disfranchising- the Borough of 
 Cricklade, on the general merits of which, Lord Ashburton gave no opinion ; 
 but he presented a petition on behalf of Samuel Petrie, Esq. and the merits 
 of the petition and the principles of the Bill were discussed with great heat. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to remind the reader, that the ill-connected administra- 
 tion, formed in the spring of 1782, fell into irreparable discord on the death of 
 the Marquis of Rockingham ; that Lord Shelburne took the lead in a new 
 Cabinet, assisted by Mr. Pitt, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, while Mr. Fox, 
 with a body of friends, retired in disgust, and having no hope that they should 
 regain power by any other means, formed an union, or as it is termed, a 
 coalition, with Lord North. The minister negotiated a peace, the preliminaries 
 of which being disapproved by Parliament, he and his adherents were forced 
 to yield to the overbearing influence of the Coalition. 
 
 Lord Ashburton continued attached to his friend and patron Lord Shelburne ; 
 but his services no longer contributed to his success, or protracted his defeat. 
 In the session of 1782-3, Lord Ashburton did not take much share in the 
 debates ; his only recorded exertion was on a divorce Bill. That affliction was 
 overtaking him, which is said to have prematurely deprived the world of his 
 worth and talents. 
 
 In 1780, he married Elizabeth, the daughter of John Baring, Esq. of Lark- 
 bear, in Devonshire. By her he had two sons, John, who was born in October, 
 1781, and Richard Barre, the present Lord, who was born in September, 1782. 
 The eldest son of Lord Ashburton died in April, 1783, at the age of seventeen 
 months; and this event, it is said, afflicted the father so severely, that he fell a 
 prey to grief in the month of August following. 
 
 Having given this ample detail of Lord Ashburton's public life, the means of 
 authentic narration are nearly exhausted. The private life of an unmarried 
 lawyer, and such was Mr. Dunning, till nearly the close of his days, affords 
 few materials for observation. Business confines him to his chambers, the courts 
 at Westminster, and his circuit; and his meals are supplied at coffee-houses, 
 
16 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 or in the hall of his society. In such a course of life, nothing is remarkable, 
 except the conversation, which in Mr. Dunning abounded with wit in all its forms; 
 sometimes playful, and often severe. Of the exercise of this quality, both on 
 his opponents at the Bar, and on the Chief Justice, with whom political opposi- 
 tion kept him on rather bad terms, many anecdotes remain, but they are either 
 too common, or too little authenticated to merit commemoration in this place. 
 
 Lord Ashburton owed no portion of his success to the advantages of appear- 
 ance, or to felicity of manner or of address ; but when once his talents began to 
 operate, all other circumstances were forgotten. The meanness of his figure, 
 the ungracefulness of his action, and monotony of his voice, were all lost in the 
 rapidity of his conceptions, the fluency of his words, the flashes of his wit, and 
 the subtlety of his arguments. He is thus delineated by a recent writer, who 
 had means to know, and abilities to estimate the individual he undertook to 
 describe. " He was a man whose talents were so peculiar, and had such a 
 singular kind of brilliance, that they are not yet forgot at the Bar. They were 
 more remarkable for acuteness and wit, than for elegance and chasteness. The 
 combination of his words was so singular, and the tones of his discordant voice 
 so served in him to rivet the attention, that, as they always conveyed powers 
 of thinking eminently sharp and forcible, he was constantly listened to with 
 eagerness and admiration. His temper was generous, his spirits lively, and his 
 passions violent. The popular side which he took in politics increased his 
 fame; and he died, generally lamented, just as he had obtained the fond object 
 of his wishes." 
 
A BRIEF 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR 
 
 GEORGE ROMNEY, 
 
 HISTORICAL AND PORTRAIT PAINTER; 
 
 BY THOMAS PHILLIPS, ESQ. R. A. 
 
 WITH AN ENGRAVED PORTRAIT BY W. BOND, FROM A PICTURE BY 
 
 2®. a. Sljee, esq. m. a. 
 
 The memoirs of an Artist, whose life is tranquilly engaged in the practice of 
 his profession, and occupied chiefly in solitary studies, cannot be expected to 
 afford that active interest to the generality of readers, which is excited by a 
 relation of the important occupations of the statesman, or the more splendid 
 achievements of the warrior; yet it must be acknowledged that an acquaintance 
 with the circumstances, which have progressively operated to form, and direct 
 the taste and skill of a man, eminent in the practice of so difficult and engaging 
 an art as that of painting, cannot be uninteresting to those persons who are at 
 all delighted in tracing the moral cultivation of man. With this view, and the 
 hope that it may stimulate to virtuous emulation those, who, feeling the 
 emotions of Genius, are contending with difficulties at the commencement of 
 their career, this account of Mr. George Romney, a painter possessed of very 
 uncommon talents, is presented to the reader. In spite of an humble parentage, 
 and other peculiar disadvantages, he, by a steady exercise of native ingenuity, 
 ultimately obtained fame and affluence. In early life he had but few oppor- 
 tunities to cultivate his mental faculties, and still fewer to direct and form his 
 
 F 
 
IS 
 
 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 mind for Art : yet the latent germ burst forth, and though its vegetation was 
 slow, it took firm root, and expanded in vigorous and fruitful blossoms. 
 
 Two gentlemen, his intimate friends, have already favoured the public with 
 distinct memoirs concerning him. Both are eminent for their talents as authors ; 
 are kindly disposed to speak favourably of their subject ; and, in what relates to 
 the early part of his life, they assure us they speak with his own authority. 
 From a combination of their narratives, aided and corrected by the testimony 
 of others of his friends, still living, the following summary history of our 
 deservedly esteemed Artist is composed. 
 
 George Romney was born at Dalton, in a district of Lancashire, called 
 Furness, on the 26th of December, 1734. His father was also a native of the 
 same place, where he spent his life on a small patrimonial freehold farm. He 
 followed the threefold occupation of merchant, builder, and farmer ; but though 
 his professions were many, he does not appear to have acquired riches from the 
 joint profits of all. His family was large. George was sent to a village school 
 for a few years, but his chief education was obtained at home. At the age of 
 twelve he was employed, by his father, to superintend the workmen ; and thus 
 was called into business at a very early period. His first indications of genius, 
 or ingenuity, were displayed by carvings of small figures in wood. Mr. Hayley 
 states, that " he was also enthusiastically fond of music, and made many experi- 
 ments in the formation of violins ;" and he not only learnt to make, but to play 
 upon them. Having finished one, of superior workmanship, he preserved it to 
 the day of his death ; and Mr. Cumberland relates, " that he has heard him play 
 on it in a room hung round with pictures of his own painting : — that its tones 
 were good ; and that some light carved work covered part of the back, spreading 
 in foliage from the setting on of the neck, and very curiously wrought." This 
 extraordinary coincidence of powers of art in the same person is very striking, 
 and very rarely to be found equalled. It exhibits, in a strong point of view, 
 a native vigour of mind, and the delicate perceptibility with which it was 
 endued. 
 
 Romney appears to have been first tempted to draw, from a desire to imitate 
 some common prints in a periodical magazine. These he borrowed from a 
 journeyman carpenter, who boarded at his father's. Accident, which more 
 
MEMOIRS OF GEORGE ROMNEY. 19 
 
 frequently governs the destinies of men than reason, or principle, decided the 
 direction of Romney's pursuit, and induced him to become a portrait painter. 
 Observing- a great singularity in the countenance of a stranger at church, and 
 mentioning it to his parents, he was desired to describe the person. To 
 strengthen his language he had recourse to the pencil ; and gained so much 
 approbation by this attempt to draw the features he had seen, that he was 
 excited to apply more seriously to the practice of design. 
 
 When our young artist had arrived at the age of fifteen, and while he was 
 thus obscurely cultivating his talents, though not with a decisive object in 
 view, he became acquainted with an ingenious, but unfortunate man, named 
 Wilkinson ; who possessing a small independency, had been induced, by disap- 
 pointments in the world, to live, in a retired state, at Dalton. He was passionately 
 devoted to the Arts and Sciences, and often sought pleasure in drawing. His 
 productions were sufficiently excellent to attract the attention, and excite the 
 emulation of Romney, whose talents and industry Wilkinson delighted to 
 encourage, both in drawing and music. The variety of instruction which he 
 imparted to his young friend, was a constant source of beneficial amusement to 
 him, and was ever remembered by Romney with gratitude. From his inter- 
 course with this singular man, may be fairly deduced the decided turn of his 
 mind, from cabinet-making, which he was originally destined to follow, to the 
 cultivation, and pursuits of art and science. 
 
 Soon afterwards he left his father's house, for the first time, under the care 
 of Mr. Wright, a cabinet-maker at Lancaster ; who finding Romney more intent 
 upon drawing the attitudes of the workmen in the shop than labouring at the 
 business, suggested to his father the idea of leaving him at liberty to pursue 
 his inclination, and become a painter: at the same time he recommended a 
 master, whom he regarded as fitted to initiate him in the mysteries of the art. 
 The person, whose name is thus rescued from the oblivion his own productions 
 would soon have allowed it to fall into, was a young itinerant painter, of the 
 name of Steele, to which the appellation of Count was annexed, in ridicule of 
 the gaiety, and love of pleasure and dress he indulged in. He then happened 
 to practice his occupation at Kendal ; and to this man, ill suited to set the genius 
 of Romney in motion, in a right direction, was he bound apprentice in the year 
 
FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 1755. With him he painted at Kendal and York ; but Steele having occasion 
 to go to Ireland, the bonds which had united two uncongenial minds were 
 broken, and Romney being at liberty, established himself, for awhile, at Kendal, 
 where he had previously married Mary Abbot, of Kirkland. Being unhappy in 
 his domestic life, and deprived of those means of improvement he eagerly 
 desired, he determined to leave his wife and two children, (a son and a daughter,) 
 and try his fate in the metropolis: the only proper sphere for powers of mind 
 like his to dcvelope, and receive their due reward. He laboured therefore 
 with great industry at different places in the North, painting heads as large as 
 life, at the price of two guineas each, and whole length figures, on a small scale, 
 for six guineas ; at the same time occasionally producing pictures of historical 
 subjects, which he generally disposed of at Lancaster, by way of raffle. By 
 these means, in a few years, he acquired a sum of nearly one hundred guineas ; 
 of which, taking thirty to pay his travelling expences, and leaving the remainder 
 with his family, he set forth to put his long desired project into execution, 
 without any letters of recommendation, and known only to one person in the 
 immense mass of population wherein afterwards, his name was sounded in terms 
 of praise through almost every part. On his arrival in London, in the year 
 1762, he became acquainted with Mr. Braithwaite, of the Post-Office; who, 
 upon seeing a picture he had brought with him of the death of Le Fevre, became 
 his friend and protector, and led him to the knowledge of the principal works 
 of art in the British metropolis. 
 
 His first residence in the capital, whither he had thus boldly ventured, stimu- 
 lated by a desire of fame, and love of the art he professed, was in the city. 
 There he painted portraits at the moderate sum of five guineas a head ; and, 
 still emulous of the name of an historical painter, ventured to become a candi- 
 date for the prizes offered by the Society for the Encouragement of Arts and 
 Sciences. He chose the popular subject of the Death of General Wolfe ; and 
 though not so successful as to gain either of the two prizes, his work was 
 regarded so well worthy of attention, that the society voted him a reward of 
 twenty-five guineas. The picture was afterwards bought by Mr. Stephenson, 
 and by him presented to Governor Varelst, in the East Indies, who placed it in 
 the council-chamber at Calcutta. 
 
MEMOIRS OF GEORGE ROMNEY. 
 
 21 
 
 Romney had happily become acquainted in his youth with a Mr. Greene, 
 whom, on his coming- to town, he found practising- as an attorney, in Gray's Inn. 
 With this gentleman, who was a steady friend to him ever after, he, in September, 
 1764, visited France, passing- through Dunkirk and Lisle to Paris. He was 
 there introduced to Vernet, then in high reputation, and by his friendly 
 assistance obtained admittance to the gallery of the Duke of Orleans, to the 
 Luxemburgh Palace, and to other repositories of art. He returned to London 
 at the expiration of six weeks, and rented apartments in Gray's Inn, to be near 
 his travelling- companion. Having- successfully painted a portrait of Sir Joseph 
 Yates, a judge of the Court of King's Bench, he became particularly favoured 
 by gentlemen of the robe, and afterwards produced many excellent pictures of 
 persons eminent in that profession. Still anxious to redeem, or to strengthen 
 his credit with the society who had made the encouragement of arts and sciences 
 the basis of their institution, he continued to pursue, occasionally, his favourite 
 study, historical painting-; and again, in 1765, offered a picture for their 
 premium, the subject of which was the Death of King- Edmund. The first prize 
 was borne away by W. Hamilton, but the second gratified Romney's wishes, 
 and he received it with applause and pleasure. This year he publicly exhibited 
 two pictures with the society of artists in Maiden Lane, both portraits. 
 
 In 176S he quitted Gray's Inn, and went to reside in Great Newport Street, 
 where he continued to increase in reputation and practice ; exhibiting- his works 
 with the incorporated society of artists, in Pall Mall and in Spring- Gardens. 
 To the latter place he sent, in 1771, his whole length portrait of Mrs. Yates, in 
 the character of the Trag ic Muse. It was highly estimated by his friends at the 
 time; but unluckily for its honour, Sir Joshua Reynolds, his more fortunate 
 rival, soon afterwards produced his magnificent work of Mrs. Siddons, in the 
 same character, which completely eclipsed its lustre. 
 
 Romney, though thus rapidly gaining public respect as an artist, was himself 
 so conscious of his want of style, and of the necessity of cultivating- his taste by- 
 seeing the great models of antiquity, that he nobly resolved upon relinquishing, 
 for a period, the pecuniary advantages his talents acquired him, which now 
 amounted to ^?1200 a year, and visit Italy, where alone he could, at that time, 
 obtain the object of his desires. He accordingly arranged a plan of travel in 
 
 6 
 
22 
 
 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 concert with Mr. Ozias Humphrey, a miniature painter, who was then practising 
 with considerable success; and on the 20th of March, 1773, they set forward 
 together. Passing through France to Marseilles and Nice, they there embarked 
 for Genoa; sailed thence to Leghorn; and arrived in Rome on the 18th of 
 June following. Whilst in that city, he lived a recluse, studious life, and 
 avoided society. Naturally apprehensive and shy, he associated with few, even 
 of his countrymen, then in that renowned emporium of the arts ; but sedulously 
 sought to improve the time of his destined residence there by visiting, and in 
 some instances industriously copying, the noble examples of art before him. 
 One of his labours was a cartoon of the lower half of the Transfiguration by 
 Raphael, as large as the original picture. Remaining some months at Rome, 
 and then visiting Venice, he became acquainted with Wortly Montagu, who at 
 that time resided there in the magnificent style and habits of a Turk. Of him 
 he painted a portrait, and afterwards returned through Parma, Tunis, and Paris, 
 to London, where he arrived in July, 1775. 
 
 In order to display to advantage the improvement acquired by his travels, he 
 was prevailed upon by his friends to take up his residence in Cavendish Square, 
 where a spacious house had just become vacant by the death of Mr. Coates, a 
 painter in crayons, who had enjoyed great popularity. After much hesitation 
 and apprehension, he agreed to settle in that mansion ; and continued to occupy 
 it, with increasing renown ; an immense influx of professional employment, and 
 consequent increase of wealth, till the weak state of his health induced him to 
 decline practice, in 1798; when he parted with the house to Mr. Shee, the 
 academician, who still renders it the abode of science and of art. 
 
 Here Romney was followed by the learned and the great, who wished to have 
 their features transmitted to posterity by his pencil. His talents were admired 
 and encouraged ; and, in some measure, he divided the attention of the town 
 with Reynolds: but he wanted the suavity of mind and manners which his 
 more fortunate rival possessed. Timid and reserved, whilst at the same time 
 enterprizing and ardent, his imagination was tremblingly alive to those irritating- 
 circumstances by which vulgarity and ignorance constantly wound the mind 
 of the portrait painter, and subject him to mortification and disgust, be he 
 ever so successful. The slightest appearance of coldness in a friend, or of 
 
MEMOIRS OF GEORGE ROMNEY. 23 
 
 hostility in a critic, was often sufficient to obstruct the exertion of his faculties. 
 This timidity and reserve were the reasons that, amidst the immense crowd 
 of persons to whom, of course, by his professional practice, he was known, there 
 were few with whom he lived in friendly or social intercourse. His mind dwelt 
 constantly on the art he delighted and excelled in; and amongst those only 
 who sympathized with his peculiarities, was he happy to associate. It is not 
 improbable, from the narrowness of his education, that with the learned he 
 felt his deficiency; and few of those who possess and enjoy the pleasures and 
 honours of classic literature, are willing- to listen with due respect, to sentiments 
 and observations arising- from native vigour of intellect or imagination, unless 
 cloathed in the language of the schools, and adorned by the artificial graces 
 of studied elocution. 
 
 To the intelligence that reigned amidst the peculiarities of feeling- in 
 Romney's mind, the late Lord Thurlow was an admiring- witness ; and no one 
 will be sceptic enough to imagine that he could be dazzled by false preten- 
 sions, or amused by trifling observations. Mr. Cumberland, supported by Mr. 
 Hayley, says of our artist, that " when in company with his intimates, he would 
 sit for a length of time absorbed in thought, and absent from the matter in 
 discourse, till, on a sudden, starting- from his seat, he would give vent to the 
 effusions of his fancy, and harangue in the most animated manner upon the 
 subject of his art, with a sublimity of idea, and a peculiarity of expressive 
 language, which was entirely his own, and in which education or reading- had 
 no share. These sallies of natural genius, cloathed in natural eloquence, were 
 perfectly original, very highly edifying-, and entertaining- in the extreme ; they 
 were uttered in a hurried accent, an elevated tone, and very commonly accom- 
 panied with tears, to which he was by constitution prone. A noble sentiment, 
 either recited from a book by the reader, or springing- from the heart of the 
 speaker, never failed to make his eyes overflow, and his voice tremble while 
 he applauded it; he was, on these occasions, like a man possessed, and his 
 friends became studious not to agitate him too often or too much with topics 
 of this sort." 
 
 The acquirement of money is said by some to have been an object of solici- 
 tude with him, but several instances are recorded of his generosity, which do 
 
24, FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 credit to his head and his heart ; one particularly I will mention, as received 
 from the person to whom the kindness was offered; but who, although grateful 
 for the good will, and honouring the motive which inspired it, declined accepting 
 the favour. Hearing that a young artist, desirous of improving himself in 
 sculpture, intended to go to Rome, and imagining that he was circumscribed in 
 the means of gratifying his wishes, Romney generously endeavoured to press 
 upon his acceptance two hundred pounds! The most excellent character of 
 generosity is exemplified in this circumstance ; viz. the desire of applying the 
 riches he had acquired, to promote cultivation of mind, where it was most 
 likely that consequent happiness should ensue to the individual, and general 
 benefit to mankind in the improvement of public taste. The high character 
 and reputation which Mr. Flaxman has since justly obtained in the estimation 
 of the public, sufficiently exhibits the penetration of his friend in selecting him 
 as worthy of encouragement and assistance in the cultivation and display of his 
 
 genius. . 
 
 Subject to occasional depression of spirits, which the kind attentions of his 
 friend Hayley, and the invigorating air of the Sussex Downs, had often partially 
 removed, Romney, on the approach of old age, was less competent to cope 
 effectually with attacks of that nature, and they gained strength upon him 
 each succeeding year; so that it became a task of much difficulty to preserve 
 in his mind a tolerable portion of social serenity when his health was thus 
 disordered; for his feelings were acute in a powerful degree. In 1797 he 
 felt a slight paralytic stroke, which affected his eye and his hand, and prevented 
 him from continuing his professional labours. In 1798 he entirely withdrew 
 from public practice, to live at Hampstead, where he had fitted up a gallery 
 for his statues and pictures. Still finding his health decline, in April, 1799, 
 he revisited his native country ; and at Kendal received from a wife, whom, 
 though deserting for so long a space of time, he had supported and protected 
 fro m H poverty, a kind and affectionate attention till his death, which occurred 
 in November, 1802; having unhappily survived the loss of that faculty 
 which is the distinguishing glory of man, and relapsed to the helpless state of 
 infancy. 
 
 Of Romney, as an Artist, it is by no means easy to appreciate his just 
 
MEMOIRS OF GEORGE ROMNEY. 25 
 
 character. That he possessed genius and talents in an eminent degree, no one 
 can deny. The learned editor of Pilkington's Dictionary has said, « That he 
 was made for the times, and the times for him." It had perhaps been more just 
 to have observed, that Romney was made for better times than those he lived 
 in. His perception of art was far purer than most of his contemporaries, at 
 least in this country, were capable of enjoying; and it must be remembered that 
 no one ever set forth in the career of an artist under greater disadvantages 
 than he did. The taste he imbibed for simplicity and grandeur, on seeing, at 
 an advanced period of his life, the works of the ancient artists, prove what 
 might have been fairly expected of him, had he happily been born under more 
 favourable circumstances ; and early initiated, under good instructors, in the 
 mysteries of the art he cultivated with so much success without those helps. 
 
 Till the time he was twenty-two he had seen no better painting than the 
 sign at a public house, in the place where he was born: but to his active, 
 enterprizing spirit, all nature was a school ; and at an age when others are 
 employed in laying by stores of ideas from books, and thence forming regu- 
 lations to guide their future progress in art, he was industriously observing, and 
 reflecting upon the grand scenery around him, and the various characters of the 
 objects he lived among. Thus the little learning- he had imbibed from the 
 few literary works he had seen, was called into immediate action, and his progress 
 in real knowledge became equal to what is usually obtained in the ordinary 
 way, with greater assistance from books and masters. 
 
 The pursuit of painting, however, requires a knowledge of certain rules in 
 the arrangement of lines ; of the beauty and power of contrast, in light and 
 shade, and in form and colour ; also of the speediest and most efficient modes 
 of execution. This science, being the result of repeated observations upon 
 the principles by which nature produces her most agreeable and sublime effects, 
 is most readily obtained, by a careful inspection of good works of art wherein 
 it is exemplified. Such advantage was not Romney's. He had to separate, for 
 himself, the partial from the general effects of nature ; and the inequality with 
 which he, in this point, met the rivalry of more fortunate artists, is too evident 
 in most of his productions. Frequently, his chiaro-scuro is ill conducted, and 
 his harmony of forms and colours imperfect; even in pictures produced when 
 
 ii 
 
26 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 enjoying the height of his intellectual power, and at the happiest period of his 
 executive skill : at the same time they exhibit great fertility of invention, with 
 sweetness and delicacy of sentiment. 
 
 He was happily endowed with an inquisitive mind, that delighted in science, 
 and pursued it warmly with the best means he had : and he possessed a versa- 
 tility of genius, which is exemplified by the variety of subjects he chose for 
 representation. Both the comic and the serious impressions of the mind had 
 charms for him. Early in life he painted two pictures from Tristram Shandy : 
 one the arrival of Dr. Slop, at Shandy Hall, after the unlucky catastrophe he 
 met with on the road, which afforded scope for sentimental comic humour; 
 the other, from the affecting story of the Death of Le Fevre : and both of them 
 were highly approved for truth and propriety of feeling and expression, though 
 differing so widely in their effects upon the mind. 
 
 His journey to Italy expanded his view of art : new scenes, and new sources 
 of information were presented to him, of which he did not neglect to avail 
 himself. The works of fancy he produced after his return home, exemplify the 
 use he made of the two years he spent among the unrivalled productions of art 
 he there met with. The purity and perfection of ancient sculpture appear to 
 have made the deepest impression upon his mind; and he afterwards assiduously 
 cherished the taste he then imbibed, by procuring a collection of casts from the 
 best models of ancient statues, groups, basso-relievos, &c. which he would sit by 
 the hour to contemplate ; examining their appearances under all changes of 
 sunshine and common daylight; and with lamps, prepared on purpose, he would 
 try their effects in various modes of illumination, with rapturous delight. 
 Hence, grandeur and simplicity became the principal objects of his ambition : 
 he perceived these qualities distinctly, and employed them judiciously; even 
 whilst imitating nature in his most usual occupation, portrait painting. To 
 present his figure, or tell his story, with simple undisturbed effect, rejecting all 
 unnecessary minutiae, was the point he aimed at, and obtained. 
 
 On his return from the Continent his zeal for historical painting revived, or 
 rather became strengthened. In several epistles to Mr. Hayley, he laments his 
 confinement to portraits : in one he says, " this cursed portrait painting, how I 
 am shackled with it! I am determined to live frugally, and cut it short as soon 
 
MEMOIRS OF GEORGE ROMNEY. 27 
 
 as I can." In another he mentions his " wish to be retired, in order to compose 
 with more effect and propriety :" and whenever he returned to London from 
 Eartham, the hospitable retreat of his admiring correspondent and friend, whose 
 playfulness of fancy was a constant and useful stimulus to Romney's dejected 
 and desponding mind, he felt it a weight of drudgery again to fall into the 
 trammels of portraiture: yet from the enjoyment he by nature found in the 
 practice of his profession, a short time inured him afresh to it, and still he 
 felt pleasure in tracing the features of each new face that presented itself; 
 till again his exhausted frame required the exhilaration of retirement, and the 
 refreshment alforded by pure uncontaminated air, free from the gross vapours 
 that hover in the region of a great and populous city. It is not a little 
 surprising, that amidst his continual labours in that branch of the art he more 
 immediately professed, he should have found time to produce so great a number 
 of fancy pictures as he left behind him. He also frequently spent his evenings 
 in making large cartoons in charcoal, of subjects which suited his fancy; 
 generally, of a sublime cast. Amongst these, was one of the Dream of Atossa, 
 from the Persians of yEschylus, which was conducted with the taste and feeling 
 of the ancient Greek artists. 
 
 He was in general fortunate in the choice of his historical subjects; and 
 certainly, in this respect, had very far the advantage of his great rival, Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds: and no less so, in the power of expression, which he scarcely 
 ever failed to obtain : whilst the latter, in his historical pictures, has rarely been 
 so happy, except in a few instances. Reynolds gave beauty and grace to his 
 figures ; Romney imparted soul. The former delights the eye with the harmony 
 and richness of colour, and beauty of effect ; the latter thrills, and gratifies 
 the heart, with truth and force of expression, in action and countenance; 
 wrought with more simplicity, but with less art. His picture of Ophelia, 
 seated upon a branch of a tree, the breaking of which threatens her destruction 
 in the stream below, whilst the melancholy distraction visible in her lovely face 
 accounts for her apparent insensibility to danger, is a sufficient proof of this 
 assertion. His compositions also of ' Titania and her Indian Votaress,' in the 
 possession of Mr. Beckford ; ' Titania, Puck, and the Changeling,' at Sir John 
 Leicester's ; and others of his works of the like playful and interesting kind, 
 
2g FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 might be brought forward to support it. In portraiture, however, the justly 
 exalted president of the Royal Academy stood alone, and Romney was not able 
 to cope with him. In the composition of his figures, our artist exhibited the 
 taste he had acquired by the study of the antique ; and he admirably varied the 
 characters of his heads. The arrangement of drapery which he adopted, partook 
 largely of the same style ; and being well understood, was painted with great 
 dexterity : though it must be confessed, that in form it was not unfrequently 
 better adapted to sculpture than to painting. 
 
 His style of Colouring was simple and broad. In that of his flesh he was 
 very successful ; exhibiting a great variety of complexion, with much warmth 
 and richness. It was not always, however, that his pictures were compleat in 
 the general tone ; but crude discordant colours were sometimes introduced in 
 the back grounds, which not being blended or broken into unison with the 
 hue of the principal figures, interrupted the harmony of the whole. 
 
 The executive part of his works was free, learned, and precise, without being 
 trifling or minute ; possessing great simplicity, and exhibiting a purity of feeling- 
 consonant with the style of his compositions. He aimed at the best of all 
 principles in the imitation of nature, viz. to generalize its effects; he even 
 carried it so far as to subject himself to the charge of negligence in the 
 completion of his forms : but the truth of his imitation is sufficiently perfect to 
 satisfy the minds of those who regard nature systematically, and not indivi- 
 dually, or too minutely. In a word, every lover of art, who knows how to 
 appreciate truly what is most valuable in painting, will hold the name of 
 Romney in increasing estimation, the more frequently and impartially he 
 examines his productions. 
 
 END OF MEMOIRS OF ROMNEY. 
 
A 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR 
 
 JOHN, MARQUIS OF GRANBY; 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN MASON GOOD, ESQ. F.R.S. 
 
 WITH AN ENGRAVED PORTRAIT BY \V. BOND, FROM A PICTURE BY 
 
 Sit 3!o0i)ua Eepnolos. 
 
 J ohn, Marquis of Granby, eldest son of John, third Duke of Rutland, and 
 twenty-fourth in paternal descent from Sir Robert de Manners, the patriarch of 
 his family, was born January the 2d, 1720-21. He was educated at Eton School, 
 and at Trinity College, Cambridge ; and on leaving the university, travelled 
 over Europe with Dr. Ewer, afterwards rector of Bottesford, and bishop of 
 Landaff. In Sept. 1750, he married Lady Frances Seymour, eldest daughter 
 of Charles, Duke of Somerset, by his second wife the Lady Charlotte Finch. 
 At an early period of life he evinced a w arm attachment to the military service, 
 which he entered into on attaining sufficient age, and in which he soon distin- 
 guished himself by his patriotism, as well as by his love of arms. In the year 
 1745, Prince Charles, the son of " the Pretender," effected a landing on the 
 coast of Lochabar, in Scotland, and in a few weeks, having subdued the greater 
 part of Scotland, led the rebel army triumphantly as far as the town of Derby, 
 and threatened the English metropolis itself. At this time Lord Granby raised 
 a regiment of foot at his own expense, and disciplined it with the utmost 
 promptitude. He was then one of the representatives in the British senate 
 for the borough of Grantham, which he faithfully served in three successive 
 
30 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 parliaments, and where he was much beloved by all ranks of his constituents. 
 He was afterwards elected a knight of the shire for the county of Cambridge. 
 In his legislative character Lord Granby was a truly independent member of 
 the house : from a long line of ancestors he was attached to the Whig interest, 
 but, from a natural suavity of temper, disposed to support the existing admini- 
 stration as far as he could conscientiously concur in its measures. He was 
 rather, however, one of the good hearers, than one of the good speakers ; though 
 whenever he did speak, it was with a force and propriety which made it a 
 matter of general regret that he did not speak more frequently. 
 
 It is chiefly, however, as a military character that we are to contemplate the 
 noble subject of this memoir, and in that his fame will descend to posterity. 
 Upon a refusal on the part of the English court to ratify the inglorious treaty 
 of Gloster-Seven, so improvidently entered into by the Duke of Cumberland in 
 the German campaign of 1757, Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick was appointed 
 commander in chief, and was promised a powerful assistance of fresh forces 
 from England to enable him to resist the overwhelming power of France by 
 which he was threatened. The troops then embarked from the English coast 
 were of the choicest kind, and were admirably officered. Among the most 
 popular, and certainly among the most gallant of these, was the Marquis of 
 Granby', who, having been raised in 1755 to the rank of Major-General, was in 
 1758 appointed Colonel to the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards, and shortly 
 afterwards to the Oxford Blues. In a few months he was promoted a Lieutenant- 
 General. The French monarch, in consequence of the reinforcement from 
 England, was obliged to abandon his conquests on the Rhine ; but the retreating- 
 troops were pursued by the allied army, which still pressed forward, and kept 
 open the campaign through the winter. By the end of February the French 
 were dislodged altogether from Verden and Bremen ; and the allies once more 
 obtained possession of the whole electorate of Hanover. 
 
 The campaign of 1759, nevertheless, opened with several serious reverses, 
 and the hostile army compelled his Serene Highness to fall back : but the progress 
 of the campaign once more proved successful, and the banners of England 
 have seldom been unfurled with greater triumph and glory than during this 
 memorable year. Lord Granby was now second in command of the English 
 
MEMOIRS OF JOHN, MARQUIS OF GRANBY. 
 
 31 
 
 troops, under Lord George Sackville. Among the battles which peculiarly 
 distinguished this campaign, that of Minden was the first and one of the most 
 brilliant. Owing to a mistake in the giving, or understanding, the orders of 
 Prince Ferdinand as to a forward movement of the right wing of the army, 
 consisting almost entirely of English cavalry, and headed by the English 
 commander, these troops, though panting for the battle, were not brought 
 into action : but from the first moment of firing Lord Granby pushed forward 
 personally into the hottest of the fight, was continually present where the 
 danger was most pressing, and, as soon as victory was declared, had the honour 
 of being noticed and thanked by the Commander in Chief, in his general orders, 
 in a manner the most marked and distinguished, though at the expense of his 
 superior officer : — " His Serene Highness further orders it to be declared to 
 Lieutenant-General the Marquis of Granby, that he is persuaded, that if he 
 had had the good fortune to have had him at the head of the cavalry of the 
 right wing, his presence would have greatly contributed to make the decision 
 of the day still more complete and brilliant." This good fortune his Serene 
 Highness possessed almost immediately afterwards ; for, in consequence of the 
 insinuation thus thrown out against Lord George Sackville in the general 
 orders, he resigned his command a few days after the battle, and returned to 
 London; where the popular indignation against him being loud and violent, 
 and the government rather yielding to, than opposing it, he was, shortly after 
 his arrival, put under an arrest. A court-martial ensued, when he was adjudged 
 guilty of having disobeyed the orders of the Commander in Chief, and declared 
 unfit to serve his Majesty in future. 
 
 Lord Granby, towards the close of Aug. was officially constituted Commander 
 in Chief of all his Majesty's forces serving in Germany. The opinion, indeed, 
 of his Serene Highness, and the desires of the whole army concurred in effecting 
 this appointment. A generous and ardent courage, an affability of manners 
 that flowed from no artifice, a manly freedom and openness of soul, a muni- 
 ficence that knew no bounds, — these, and various other qualities of the man 
 and the soldier,-— equally endeared him to every rank, and gained him alike 
 the suffrages of his own countrymen and of foreigners. In conjunction with this 
 appointment, he was now also nominated Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance. 
 
32 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 In the ensuing year he was declared a Privy Counsellor : but this honour was 
 combined with the severest of domestic misfortunes, the loss of Lady Granby, 
 who died suddenly in the bloom of life. 
 
 The German war continued for nearly three years longer, during which, 
 every campaign added fresh laurels to the banners of England, and enhanced 
 the reputation of her illustrious chieftain. In 1760 was fought the famous 
 battle of Warburg, in which the English cavalry exceeded all expectation ; and, 
 as though conscious of having been defrauded of their share of glory in the 
 battle of Minden, attacked the enemy with an impetuosity so tremendous and 
 irresistible, that the whole hostile army was instantly thrown into the utmost 
 confusion, and compelled to leave three thousand, killed, wounded, and prisoners. 
 The activity of Prince Ferdinand allowed little respite during the ensuing- 
 winter, though his force was still far inferior to that of the enemy. The English 
 commander nobly seconded his efforts ; sharing, amidst the difficulties and rigours 
 of the season, all the fatigues and dangers of his troops : and seeing them suffer 
 severely from the want of good winter quarters, procured, with princely 
 munificence, additional provisions and necessaries for the private soldiers at 
 his own expense, and constantly provided an open table for the officers. On the 
 15th of July was fought the battle of Kirch- Denhern, on the banks of the Aest. 
 The enemy opened an assault unexpectedly on the preceding evening, and, as 
 usual, against the line of British troops, whose intrepidity he most dreaded : it 
 was a shock of the utmost fury, but the opposing phalanx sustained it without 
 shrinking, and ultimately drove the enemy back into the woods with great 
 slaughter. The battle was renewed and became general on the ensuing- 
 morning, but terminated in favour of the English and their allies, who in this 
 arduous encounter were supposed to have reached the climax of military glory. 
 On the opening of the campaign of 1762, at the battle of Graebenslein, on 
 the frontiers of Hesse, Lord Granby headed the right wing, and led on the 
 attack against the left of the French with an impetuosity that overcame all 
 opposition. The hostile army finding itself attacked in front, flank, and rear 
 at the same moment, became panic struck, and fled in every quarter. A 
 decisive victory was again obtained, which was of the highest consequence in 
 its results; for while his Serene Highness, with the remainder of his army, 
 
MEMOIRS OF JOHN, MARQUIS OF GRANBV. 
 
 33 
 
 braved the enemy in front, Lord Granby was dispatched with almost the 
 whole of the right wing- on an adventurous expedition in the rear of the 
 French, in order to cut off their communication with Frankfort. The brilliant 
 action of Homburg ensued, at a distance of thirty miles from the main body 
 of either army, in which M. de Rochambeau, the French commander, was totally 
 defeated ; all the important posts in the south of Hesse were successively occupied 
 by the allies, and Cassel itself, the capital of the Landgraviate, was retaken 
 after a siege of fifteen days. But negociations for a general peace had now 
 been long- advancing; and an end was abruptly put to the war by the inter- 
 change of preliminaries at Fontainbleau. This however was, in one respect, a 
 termination not to be lamented by the allied army; for the fatigue which the 
 noble marquis had so long sustained, brought on a violent, protracted, and most 
 dangerous fever, on which account the deepest gloom pervaded the whole camp. 
 He recovered, however, from this severe visitation, and headed his gallant 
 comrades on their return home, where they were welcomed with all the ardour 
 and patriotism to which their exalted prowess and reputation had entitled 
 them. 
 
 Lord Granby continued to maintain for many years a distinguished rank in 
 the administration of the country ; being progressively constituted Commander 
 in Chief of all his Majesty s forces, Master-General of the Ordnance, and Lord- 
 Lieutenant and Gustos Rotulorum of the county of Derby. In his ministerial 
 capacity he appears to have possessed the same popularity as in his military. 
 He was one of the few statesmen of the day who, equally disgusted with the 
 names of Whig and Tory, refused to enlist himself under the banners of either 
 party; but associated with the individuals of both as he found them really intent 
 upon the good of their country. And hence, without the smallest impeachment 
 of his independence, he still held the command of the army under the Grenville, 
 the Rockingham, and the Grafton administrations. 
 
 It was on this pliancy, not of principle, but of disposition, that, in common 
 with the rest of the ministry, he was attacked by Junius in the first letter 
 which appeared, thus signed, in the Public Advertiser, January 26, 1769, and 
 which commenced the career of this writer's political celebrity. " It has lately 
 been a fashion," says he, " to pay a compliment to the bravery and generosity 
 
34 
 
 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 of the Commander in Chief at the expense of his understanding. They who 
 love him least make no question of his courage, while his friends dwell chiefly 
 on the facility of his disposition. Admitting him to be as brave as a total 
 absence of all feeling and reflection can make him, let us see what sort of 
 merit he derives from the remainder of his character. If it be generosity to 
 accumulate in his own person and family a number of lucrative employments ; 
 to provide, at the public expense, for every creature that bears the name of 
 Manners ; and neglecting the merit and services of the rest of the army, to heap 
 promotions upon his favourites and dependants, the present Commander in Chief 
 is the most generous man alive. Nature has been sparing of her gifts to this 
 noble lord ; but where birth and fortune are united, we expect the noble pride 
 and independence of a man of spirit, not the servile, humiliating complaisance 
 of a courtier. As to the goodness of his heart, if a proof of it be taken from 
 the facility of never refusing, what conclusion shall we draw from the indecency 
 of never performing? And if the discipline of the army be in any degree 
 preserved, what thanks are due to a man, whose cares, notoriously confined 
 to filling up vacancies, have degraded the office of Commander in Chief into a 
 broker of commissions?" 
 
 It is the marked characteristic of this powerful, but acrimonious writer, 
 that no man was ever so well qualified to model facts to his own purpose, and 
 to give them that peculiar bent and colouring which would best answer it. The 
 charge of ministerial servility, and of promising without performing, refers to 
 Lord Granby's having undertaken to support the half-pay officers of the navy 
 in their application to government for an augmentation of salary. It is not 
 true that he neglected to perform his promise, but it is certainly true that the 
 application did not succeed : he introduced and warmly supported the question 
 among his colleagues, but he was not able to obtain their consent, and his 
 failure he frankly acknowledged. But to have resigned his post abruptly on 
 this account alone, would have been a very doubtful mark of manly indepen- 
 dence, and might as easily have been construed into private pique as into 
 public spirit. 
 
 Here then, so far as relates to Lord Granby, the anonymous attack ought 
 in prudence to have been suffered to die away : for, like the viper in its own 
 
MEMOIRS OF JOHN, MARQUIS OF GRANBY. 35 
 
 flesh, it carried, in its own inconsistency, a complete antidote to the poison of 
 its bite. That such was the wish of the noble lord himself has never been 
 doubted, but such was not the wish of all his friends ; and hence a vindication 
 of his public conduct, in answer to that part of the letter of Junius just 
 quoted, appeared in the same newspaper a few days afterwards, with the 
 signature of Sir William Draper. This gentleman was an officer of high rank 
 in the army, who had commanded in the successful expedition to the Manillas : 
 he appears to have possessed a keen sense of honour, and was an intimate 
 companion of the Commander in Chief. But Sir William was also a scholar, an 
 easy and elegant writer, and the world has done him high injustice, if, in this 
 superfluous defence of his noble friend, he was not at least as much stimulated 
 by the latter as by the former qualities. The result is well known to have 
 been a correspondence of six letters, continued through the same medium, 
 between the knight of the bath and the anonymous satirist ; through the whole 
 of which the latter shewed himself an over-match for the former ; and failed not 
 to apply the lash still more severely to the situation and feelings of this 
 chivalrous volunteer in the cause, than he had done to any one of the ministry. 
 
 It was not, indeed, difficult to select from the military and political life of 
 Sir William Draper facts for public reprehension. Of these, Junius lavishly 
 availed himself, while he completely prevented all personal retort by the 
 disguise which nothing could induce him to throw off. He was also, in the 
 course of this correspondence, compelled to . make the Marquis of Granby a 
 more prominent subject of animadversion than he either intended or desired. 
 " I should justly be suspected," says he, (Letter v. Feb. 21, 1769,) " of acting 
 upon motives of more than common enmity to Lord Granby, if I continued to 
 give you fresh materials or occasion for writing in his defence. Individuals 
 who hate, and the public who despise, have read your letters, Sir William, 
 with infinitely more satisfaction than mine. Unfortunately for him, his repu- 
 tation, like that unhappy country to which you refer me for his last military 
 achievements, has suffered more by his friends than his enemies. In mercy to 
 him, let us drop the subject. For my own part, I willingly leave it to the 
 public to determine, whether your vindication of your friend has been as able 
 and judicious as it was certainly well intended: and you, I think, may be 
 
36 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 satisfied with the warm acknowledgments he already owes you for making- him 
 the principal figure in a piece, in which, but for your amicable assistance, he 
 might have passed without particular notice or distinction." 
 
 It is said, and has been generally believed, that Sir William Draper desisted 
 from answering this letter at the request of the noble lord or of his friends : and 
 in the notice which Junius takes of a subsequent letter of Sir William's, upon 
 a casual renewance of the correspondence, there appears to be some foundation 
 for such a belief. " They say in common discourse," observes he, " that a man 
 may be his own enemy ; and the frequency of the fact makes the expression 
 intelligible. But that a man should be the bitterest enemy of his friends, implies 
 a contradiction of a peculiar nature. Sir William Draper is still that fatal 
 friend Lord Granby found him. Yet I am ready to do justice to his generosity ; 
 if, indeed, it be not something more than generous to be the voluntary advocate 
 of men who think themselves injured by his assistance; and to consider nothing- 
 in the cause he adopts but the difficulty of defending it." (Letter xxvu. 
 October 13, 1769.) 
 
 In the preceding invective bestowed by Junius on Lord Granby, amidst 
 many conceded virtues, the fault chiefly insisted upon is the facility of his 
 disposition, which too frequently sunk " the noble pride and independence of a 
 man of spirit" into " the servile, humiliating complaisance of a courtier." 
 Before six months had elapsed, however, the minister himself had very sufficient 
 proofs of the falsity of this accusation. It is needless to advert to more than 
 the following fact. 
 
 The Commander in Chief had accompanied the minister as far as his conscience 
 would allow him, in the parliamentary debates respecting Mr. Wilkes : he had 
 even voted for the expulsion of this gentleman ; but here he felt compelled to 
 stop. If, after such a decision, Mr. Wilkes's constituents chose once more to 
 return him, Lord Granby deemed it improper to interfere with the fair voice 
 and verdict of the people, by opposing his being received into the legislature. 
 Such however was well known to be the determination of the Duke of Grafton ; 
 and hence, perceiving there was no limit to ministerial revenge without a 
 violation of the constitution, Lord Granby resigned his offices of Commander in 
 Chief and Master-General of the Ordnance in January, 1770, and was joined 
 
MEMOIRS OP JOHN, MARQUIS OF GRANBY. 37 
 
 in such resignation by the Dukes of Beaufort and Manchester, the Earls of 
 Coventry and Huntingdon, and the Solicitor-General, Mr. Dunning. The 
 Lord Chancellor, Camden, being suspected of betraying- to Lord Chatham the 
 secrets of the cabinet, had the seals indig nantly demanded of him ; and the Hon. 
 Charles Yorke, who had made a positive engagement to his brother, Lord 
 Hardwicke, that he would listen to no overtures of the Grafton administration, 
 was prevailed upon to accept the vacant seals : but having- been refused admission 
 to his brother, in consequence of this deviation from his word, he went home 
 distracted and melancholy, and put an end to his life by a pistol. The fortitude 
 of the Duke of Grafton himself now forsook him ; and on the 28th of January 
 he resigned the office of First Lord of the Treasury, accepting, however, that 
 of Keeper of the Privy Seal. 
 
 The part Lord Granby had thus taken he faithfully followed up ; and in the 
 ensuing- March, when the new minister proposed once more, upon a petition 
 from Colonel Luttrell, to reject Mr. Wilkes as member for Middlesex, after 
 having been returned with 1243 votes against his opponent, who, with all 
 the crown interest in his behalf, had only been able to obtain 296 votes, he 
 openly opposed Lord North : « I am sorry," says Lord Granby, » I am obliged 
 to declare myself against the motion ; but I cannot see what right this house 
 can have to receive any person into it as a member, except by the full choice of 
 his constituents. It was for want of considering the nice distinction between 
 expulsion and incapacitation that I gave my vote for the sitting- of a member 
 who was not returned in the last session of this parliament : that vote I shall 
 always lament as the greatest misfortune of my life. I now see the Middlesex 
 election in another light: I now see, that though this house has an unques- 
 tionable and long-established right to expel, yet that a right to incapacitate is 
 lodged only in the legislature collectively. I see that I was in an error, and 
 am not ashamed to make this public declaration of it, and give my vote for 
 the amendment." 
 
 With this speech may be said to have terminated the political life of the 
 Marquis of Granby. His natural life lasted but a few months longer; for in 
 the beginning- of October, 1770, he was attacked, at Belvoir Castle, with a fit 
 of the gout, and died suddenly on the 11th of the same month. 
 
 h 
 
gg fine ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 The abruptness of his decease gave rise to a rumour that he had followed 
 the example of the Lord Chancellor, Yorke ; but there does not appear to have 
 been the smallest foundation for such a report. The silence of Junius upon 
 this subject, in a subsequent letter to the Duke of Grafton, in which he again 
 upbraids his grace with the fate of Mr. Yorke, is a sufficient proof that this 
 writer neither credited the rumour himself, nor believed it to be credited by 
 any body: for he would have rejoiced in an opportunity of adding another lash 
 to his scourge by laying this deed also to the charge of the minister. " The 
 expulsion," says he, " of Mr. Wilkes, predetermined in the cabinet ; the power 
 of depriving the subject of his birth-right, attributed to a resolution of one 
 branch of the legislature ; the constitution impudently invaded by the house 
 of commons; the right of defending it treacherously renounced by the house 
 of lords; these are the strokes, my lord, which in the present reign recommend 
 to office, and constitute a minister. But you have other merit in abundance ; 
 Mr. Hine, the Duke of Portland, and Mr. Yorke :— -breach of trust, robbery, 
 and murder." (Letter xlix. June 22, 1771.) More especially should we have 
 found Junius adverting to such a deed in the following character, which he 
 may be said to have inscribed upon his lordship's monument; for it was written 
 shortly after his decease, and may serve both for his elegy and epitaph. 
 
 « The death of Lord Granby was lamented by Junius. He undoubtedly 
 owed some compensations to the public, and seemed determined to acquit 
 himself of them. In private life he was unquestionably that good man, who, for 
 the interest of his country, ought to have been a great one. Bomm virum 
 facile dixeris ; magnum libenter. I speak of him now without partiality ; I never 
 spoke of him with resentment. His mistakes in public conduct did not arise 
 either from want of sentiment, or want of judgment, but in general from the 
 difficulty of saying no to the bad people who surrounded him. As for the rest, 
 the friends of Lord Granby should remember that he himself thought proper 
 to condemn, retract, and disavow, by a most solemn declaration in the house 
 of commons, that very system of political conduct, which Junius had held forth 
 to the disapprobation of the public." (Note to Letter to.) 
 
 END OF THE MEMOIR. 
 
A 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR 
 
 OF 
 
 SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, KNIGHT; 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES NORTHCOTE, ESQ. R. A. 
 
 WITH AN ENGRAVED PORTRAIT BY W. BOND, FROM A PICTURE BY 
 
 ©it 31os6ua ftepnoins. 
 
 In the early part of the last century, the progress which the British nation had 
 made in matters of taste, particularly in the department of painting-, was not 
 equal to the general advances made in Science and Literature. Philosophers, 
 Statesmen, Poets, and Warriors, had already exalted and dignified the character 
 of Great Britain, but no Englishman had then appeared to raise the Fine Arts 
 to a degree of eminence proportionate to the other glories of the country. 
 An opportunity so favourable for the exercise of high talents, and ardent 
 emulation, was the fortunate lot of Sir Joshua Reynolds. This illustrious 
 Painter, and distinguished ornament of the English nation, was born at Plympton, 
 in Devonshire, on the 16th of July, 1723. He was the son of the Rev. Samuel 
 Reynolds and Theophila Potter, and was the seventh of eleven children, five 
 of whom died in their infancy. It has been said that young Joshua was for 
 some time instructed in the Classics by his father, who assiduously cultivated 
 the minds of his children ; but as it is known that the son did not display any 
 marks of classical learning in the earlier part of his life, it is most probable 
 that the mass of general knowledge which afterwards so eminently distinguished 
 him, was the consequence of great application to study in his riper years : a 
 
 M 
 
40 
 
 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 good classical scholar he never was at any period of his life. That he was what 
 the world terms a Genius, and of the first order, cannot be disputed. He 
 possessed talents of the highest kind, which he brought into full and constant 
 action by a laudable ambition and a strong desire of acquiring eminence in the 
 profession he adopted. I have heard him say that his father at first intended him 
 for the medical department ; and that if such had been his lot, he should have 
 felt the same ambition to become the most eminent physician of his age and 
 country. For it was ever his decided opinion, that the superiority to be attained 
 and displayed in any pursuit does not originate in an innate propensity of the 
 mind to that pursuit in particular, but depends on the general strength of the 
 intellect, and on the intense application of that strength to a specific purpose. 
 It is true, indeed, that at an early period of his life he made some scrawling 
 drawings from the ordinary book prints which he found in his father's study ; but 
 the same thing has been done by ten thousand boys before him, and will be done 
 again by thousands yet to come. It is the most common refuge of idleness to 
 escape the labour of an irksome lesson. We find also that he read the Jesuit's 
 Perspective at the age of eight years : that he applied its rules in a drawing 
 which he attempted to make of his father's school-house — a building fitted to 
 his purpose, being on pillars — was a proof of his capacity and active curiosity. 
 On showing it to his father, who was merely a man of letters, the surprise he 
 excited, and the praise he obtained, naturally inflamed his ambition to conquer 
 greater difficulties, in a field of knowledge in which he seemed to stand alone, 
 from the ignorance of those about him in the graphic art. When Richardson's 
 Theory of Painting was put into his hands, he there saw the enthusiastic raptures 
 in which an eminent painter is described : no wonder that he thought RafFaellc 
 the greatest man the world had produced ; the book told him so, which was all 
 he could know of Raffaelle at that time. As he had shown those early incli- 
 nations towards the Arts, a neighbour and friend of the family (a Mr. Cranch) 
 advised the father to send his son to London, to be placed under the tuition of 
 Mr. Hudson, a well known painter of portraits, who was also a native of Devon- 
 shire. This advice was taken, and young Reynolds first visited the metropolis, 
 to be inspired by Hudson, on the 14th of October, 1741, when he was not full 
 eighteen years of age. 
 
MEMOIRS OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, KNIGHT. 
 
 41 
 
 In order to give the reader some idea of the state of the Arts at that time 
 in this country, it must be observed, that Hudson was then the greatest painter 
 in England ; and the qualification that enabled him to hold this decided pre- 
 eminence, was the ability of producing a likeness with that kind of address 
 which, by the vulgar, is considered as flattering in the portrait. But after 
 having done the head Hudson's genius failed him, and he was obliged to apply 
 to one Vanhauken to put it on the shoulders and to finish the drapery, both of 
 which Hudson was totally incapable. Vanhauken died, and for a time Hudson 
 was driven almost to despair, and feared he must have quitted business. He 
 met with another drapery painter however, named Roth, who, though not so 
 good as the former, yet was sufficiently qualified to carry on the manufactory. 
 He outlived Hudson, and has executed some draperies for Sir Joshua even in 
 his latter time. 
 
 Reynolds continued only two years with his master ; in which time he made 
 such a rapid progress, that a picture of his painting having been accidentally 
 seen in Hudson's Gallery, it gained such universal preference, that the preceptor 
 immediately grew jealous of his pupil's excellence, and on that account they 
 soon afterwards parted. Reynolds returned to Devonshire, where he is said, by 
 his biographer, to have dissipated the three following years, making little effort, 
 and as little improvement, to his great remorse of conscience afterwards ; yet 
 we know that he produced a great many portraits at that period, several of 
 which were certainly very fine : this he acknowledged on seeing some of them 
 thirty years afterwards, and lamented that in so many years he had made so 
 little progress. 
 
 He and his two youngest unmarried sisters took a house at Plymouth Dock ; 
 where he painted various portraits, some of which evince great capacity, but he 
 was necessarily embarrassed by the want of experience. Here he became first 
 known to the Edgcumbe family, of Mount Edgcumbe, who warmly patronized 
 and strongly recommended him to the Hon. Augustus Keppel, afterwards Lord 
 Keppel. This officer was then fitting out at Plymouth Dock as Commodore, for 
 his station in the Mediterranean. In this voyage Reynolds was invited to 
 accompany him in the Centurian man of war, and they sailed May the 11th, 
 1749. On the 24th of the same month they arrived at Lisbon, where our 
 
42 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 artist saw several grand processions, and other sights novel to him, of which he 
 gave an account in a letter to Lord Edgcumbe, written with great simplicity. 
 On the 23d of August he commenced his residence at Port Mahon, in Minorca, 
 where he continued some time ; and by the friendship of Keppel, as well as 
 from his own merit, he was much employed in painting the portraits of almost 
 all the officers on that station, and thereby much improved both his art and 
 his purse. He next went to Leghorn, and thence to Rome. When arrived 
 in this garden of the world, this great temple of the Arts — where I have enjoyed 
 so much pleasure, now fading from my memory — his time was employed with 
 industry, observation, and judgment: indeed in a manner worthy of his talents 
 and his virtue. He contemplated with untired attention, and ardent zeal, the 
 various beauties which marked the styles of different schools and different ages : 
 he sought for truth, taste, and beauty at the fountain head. It was with no 
 common eye that he beheld the productions of the great masters. He copied 
 and sketched in the Vatican such parts of the works of Raffaelle and Michael 
 Angelo as he thought would be most conducive to his future excellence in Art. 
 He has confessed in his writings, that at the first sight of Raffaelle's works he 
 did not relish, or well comprehend their merits, but that he studied them till he 
 did: I account for this from the difference in the dispositions of the two painters. 
 Raffaelle possessed a grandeur even to severity, and did not display in his 
 pictures either the allurements of colour, or much effect of light and shade. 
 Reynolds, from his natural disposition, cultivated grace, softness, and a capti- 
 vating sweetness, and imparted these to his works in an unexampled degree. 
 
 After remaining in Italy about three years, in which time he visited most 
 of the capital cities of that country, he returned to England by the way of 
 France. At Paris he met his friend Mr. Chambers, the architect, (afterwards 
 Sir William,) accompanied by his wife, then on their way to Rome : here he 
 painted the portrait of Mrs. Chambers, from which a mezzotinto print is taken. 
 On his arrival in England in October, 1752, he went immediately to Plymouth, 
 for the benefit of his health. During- this visit he painted the portrait of his 
 friend Dr. John Mudge, a remarkable fine head, of which also there is a print. 
 This, and one other, of a young lady, were all he did till he left the town ; as 
 his friend Lord Edgcumbe advised him to go to London, as the only place to 
 
MEMOIRS OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, KNIGHT. 
 
 43 
 
 establish his fame and fortune : accordingly he set off for the metropolis, and 
 took handsome lodgings in St. Martin's Lane about the end of the year 1752. 
 He soon afterwards removed to a large house in Great Newport Street, where 
 he dwelt some years. This period was the dawn of his splendour. His amiable 
 modesty, accompanied by such extraordinary talents, soon gained him some 
 powerful and active connections : even his earliest employers were of the highest 
 rank. The second portrait he painted in London was that of the old Duke of 
 Devonshire ; which was followed by a whole length picture of his first patron 
 Commodore Keppel, engraved by Fisher. He was now employed to portray 
 several ladies in the first circles of fashion, which the polite world flocked to 
 see ; and he soon became one of the most distinguished painters, not only in 
 England but in Europe. It should be remarked, that before his time there were 
 no historical works which called upon the painter's skill ; a true taste was 
 wanting : vanity, however, was not wanting, and this crowded his sitting room 
 with women who wished to be transmitted as angels, and with men who wanted 
 to appear as heroes and philosophers. From Reynolds' pencil they were sure 
 to be gratified : the Apotheosis was the simple operation of the painter's mind, 
 which glowed with grandeur and with grace. In the delineation of character, 
 mind, air, and attitude, in composition and general effect, he was equally perfect; 
 and it may be justly said that his portraits assume the importance of History. 
 Felicity and force of resemblance, combined with dignity and grace, characterize 
 his works : these charms not only drew around him all the opulence and beauty 
 of the nation, but gained him the merited honour of perpetuating the features 
 of almost all the eminent and distinguished characters then living; with most 
 of whom, so attractive were his manners as well as his talents, he preserved an 
 intimacy, which only ended with life. In this assemblage of genius each was 
 improved by the other. Like a man of great mind, he ever cultivated the 
 intimacy and friendship of all the learned and all the great of his time ; and 
 often assisted those who were in difficulties, both with his advice and his purse. 
 The circle of his friends was very extensive : many illustrious foreigners were 
 personally intimate with him ; his society was sought by individuals of the highest 
 quality, who revered his genius as much as they respected the worth of his 
 private character. His house was long the resort of the learned, the elegant, 
 
 N 
 
44 
 
 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 and the polite; all who were eminent for their virtue, or distinguished for their 
 genius. From such connections, his mind, rich in its own stores, received an 
 accession of most extensive knowledge, and an inexhaustible treasure for conver- 
 sation. He was rich in observation, anecdote, and intelligence. He had a 
 mind ever open, and desirous to acquire useful knowledge ; a sound and pene- 
 trating-judgment to select and separate what he did acquire, and infinite industry 
 and application in rendering his acquirements useful. 
 
 At this period, finding himself sufficiently established to move in a higher 
 sphere, he quitted his residence in Newport Street, and removed to Leicester- 
 Fields, where he bought a handsome house, to which he added a splendid gallery 
 for exhibiting his works, and a commodious and elegant room for his sitters. In 
 this speculation, as I have heard him confess, he laid out almost the whole 
 property he had then realized. He also set up a handsome carriage, and his 
 mode of living was suitably elegant. 
 
 In the year 1762, Mr. Reynolds having impaired his health by incessant appli- 
 cation, again paid a visit to his native county ; and was accompanied by his 
 friend Dr. Samuel Johnson. They were entertained at the seats of several 
 noblemen and gentlemen in the west of England ; and during their stay at 
 Plymouth were the guests of Dr. Mudge, who was then a surgeon, and afterwards 
 an eminent physician of that town. In 1765 he exhibited an admired whole 
 length portrait of Lady Sarah Bunbury, representing her as sacrificing to the 
 Graces. Previous to this he had painted an excellent whole length portrait of 
 Lady Elizabeth Keppel, in the dress she wore as bridemaid to the queen. He 
 had also produced the picture of Garrick between Tragedy and Comedy, which 
 may be considered as his first attempt in historical composition l . He had now 
 attained the summit of his reputation as an Artist; and maintained his dignified 
 station to the close of his life. Cotes and Ramsey shared, in some degree, 
 with him in the fashion of the day ; for each of those painters had employment 
 from the court of England, where Reynolds, as an artist, never could become a 
 favourite. Indeed he never received one commission from that enviable source 
 of honour ; for the portraits of the king and queen, now in the council-room of 
 
 1 This picture is in the possession of J. J. Angerstein, Esq. An Engraving from it, by Cardon, will 
 be found in another part of this volume. 
 
MEMOIRS OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, KNIGHT. 
 
 45 
 
 the Royal Academy, were painted purposely for that institution at the request 
 of Reynolds himself. 
 
 Without entering- into a tedious detail of minute circumstances and petty 
 animosities, at that time existing among the artists, I shall only observe, that to 
 compose these jarring interests, and to give dignity to a new establishment, his 
 majesty, in December, 1768, instituted " The Royal Academy of Painting, 
 Sculpture, and Architecture," which was composed of the ablest and most 
 respectable artists then resident in Great Britain. Reynolds was made the first 
 president by an unanimous vote : and on that occasion was knighted ; an honour 
 which he received with satisfaction, as he well knew that it gave additional 
 consequence to his works in the estimation of the vulgar. It is not matter of 
 surprise that his election as president was unanimous : his professional rank, his 
 large fortune, and the circle of society in which he moved, gave him a claim to 
 the honour which none of his contemporaries possessed ; and it has been said 
 that he refused to join the society on any other terms. Thus the Royal Academy 
 was opened December the 10th, 1768, by Sir Joshua, with his first discourse. 
 The task of giving lectures in the academy was no part of the prescribed duty 
 of his office, but was voluntarily imposed on himself for reasons assigned in his 
 fifteenth discourse. 
 
 He was soon afterwards made a freeman of his native borough of Plympton. 
 This mark of respect was followed by his being chosen alderman and mayor of 
 the town: and so attached was he to the place of his birth, that he declared this 
 gave him more pleasure than any other public mark of distinction he had 
 received in his life. On this occasion he presented his portrait, painted by 
 himself, to the corporation, who placed it in their town-hall. 
 
 The variety of his critical talents, added to the eminence he had now gained, 
 qualified him to share the honours of the first scientific institutions. He was 
 accordingly admitted to the Royal, the Antiquarian, and the Dillittanti Societies : 
 and when the late Lord North was installed chancellor of the university of 
 Oxford, in July, 1773, Sir Joshua was at the same time admitted to the honorary- 
 degree of doctor of civil law. In the latter part of the year 1775 he sent his 
 portrait, painted by himself in his university dress, to be placed in the gallery 
 of illustrious painters at Florence ; he having been made a member of the 
 
46 
 
 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 Imperial Academy of that city. On the death of Ramsey, in August, 1784, Sir 
 Joshua was sworn principal painter to his majesty. In the year 1790 some 
 disagreement arose among- the members of the Royal Academy, respecting the 
 election of an academician. This was carried to such a degree of intemperance, 
 that Sir Joshua determined to resign the chair and quit the society. At first 
 the academicians treated this secession with hauteur ; but soon found that the 
 rank and character of their president was too important to be readily relin- 
 quished. In vain, however, they solicited his return : and the king was at last 
 prevailed on to employ his influence. To comply with the sovereign's request 
 Sir Joshua resumed his chair, and continued to occupy it, with honour to himself, 
 to the arts and to the nation, till the period of his death. He had not com- 
 pleted his sixty-ninth year when he was taken from the world which admired 
 him, and the country he adorned, on the 23d of February, 1792. After laying 
 in state at the Royal Academy, his remains were deposited, on the 3d of March 
 following, with great funeral pomp, beneath the east end of St. Paul's cathe- 
 dral church. Thus died Sir Joshua Reynolds, in whose works are displayed 
 taste, feeling, imagination, grace, and grandeur. In his excellent discourses, he 
 treats his favourite art with the depth of a philosopher, the accomplishments of 
 a scholar, and the accuracy of a critic. 
 
 The Lectures, which he delivered to the Royal Academy on the 10th of 
 December, at first every year, and subsequently every two years, are the works 
 that chiefly confer on him the character of an estimable writer. These were 
 designed to direct and animate the students in the pursuit of excellence, and 
 indeed are replete with the soundest instructions, expressed in language at once 
 simple, perspicuous, and elegant. The profound knowledge of art displayed in 
 these discourses, is enriched by classical and appropriate illustrations. These 
 great qualities, together with the uniform good sense and good taste which 
 pervade his Lectures, will ever entitle them to hold an eminent station in the 
 scale of English Literature. His observations on the old masters are at once just 
 and ingenious: several branches of the theory of art are treated with uncommon 
 judgment and ability, and the style of writing is strongly marked by the simpli- 
 city of his own individual character and manner, and totally unlike that of any 
 of his intimate literary friends, to whom some silly critics have given the merit 
 
MEMOIRS OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, KNIGHT. 
 
 4-1 
 
 of those discourses. They have been translated into French ; and the late Mr. 
 J. Barretti has published an edition of them in the Italian language. 
 
 When we contemplate Sir Joshua as a painter, we are to recollect that after 
 the death of Kneller the Arts in England fell to the lowest state of barbarism ; 
 and each professor either followed that painter's steps, or else wandered in utter 
 darkness, till Reynolds, like the sun, dispelled the mists, and threw an unprece- 
 dented splendour on the department of portraiture. To the grandeur, the 
 truth, and simplicity of Titian, and to the daring strength of Rembrandt, he has 
 united the chasteness and delicacy of Vandyke. Delighted with the picturesque 
 beauties of Rubens, he was the first that attempted a bright and gay back- 
 ground; and defying the dull and ignorant rules of his master, at a very early 
 period of life emancipated his art from the shackles with which it had been 
 encumbered in the school of Hudson. Indeed there is every reason to believe 
 that he very rarely, if ever, copied a single picture of any master, though he 
 certainly did imitate the excellent parts of many. His versatility in this respect 
 was equalled only by the susceptibility of his feelings, the quickness of his 
 comprehension, and the ardour which prompted his efforts. His principal aim, 
 however, was colour and effect, and these he always varied as the subject required. 
 Whatever deficiences there may be in the designs of this great master, no 
 painter, of any period, better understood the principles of colouring; nor can it 
 be doubted that he carried that branch of his art to a very high degree of 
 perfection. As for his portraits, those of dignified character have a certain air of 
 grandeur, and those of women and children possess a grace, beauty, and simpli- 
 city, which have seldom been equalled, and never surpassed. In his attempts to 
 give character where it did not exist, he has sometimes lost likeness, but the defi- 
 ciences of the portrait were often compensated by the beauty of the picture. 
 
 The attitudes of his figures are generally full of grace, ease, and variety. He 
 could throw them into the boldest variations, and he often ventures at postures 
 which would frighten inferior painters, or, if attempted, would inevitably destroy 
 their credit. In light and shade, in colouring- and expression, he stands without 
 a rival. His lights display the knowledge he possessed, and with shade he 
 conceals his defects ; whether we consider the power, the brilliancy, or the form 
 of his lights, the transparency of his shadows, with the just quantities of each, 
 
 o 
 
4^ 
 
 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 and the harmony, richness, and full effect of the whole, it is evident that he 
 has not only far transcended every modern master, hut that his excellences, in 
 these captivating parts of painting, vie with the works of the great models he 
 has emulated. 
 
 The opinion he has given of Raffaelle may with equal justice be applied 
 to himself; " that his materials were generally borrowed, but the noble struc- 
 ture was his own." No one ever appropriated the ideas of others to his own 
 purpose with more skill than Sir Joshua. He possessed the alchymy of painting, 
 by converting, as it were, whatever he touched into gold. Like the bee that 
 extracts sweets from the most noxious flower, so his active observation could 
 convert every thing into a means of improvement, from the puerile print on a 
 common ballad, to the highest graces of Parmegiano. In short, there is no 
 painter that ever went before him, from whom he has not derived some advan- 
 tage, and appropriated the same with judicious selection and consummate taste. 
 Yet after all that can be alleged to him as a borrower of forms, from other 
 masters, it must be allowed that he engrafted on them excellences peculiarly 
 his own : simplicity, sentiment, feeling, grace, and taste ; together with richness, 
 harmony of colour, and general effect. The severest critics, indeed, must admit 
 that his manner is truly original, bold, and free. Freedom is certainly his prin- 
 cipal characteristic: for to this he seems to have sacrificed every other conside- 
 ration. He has, however, two manners : his early works are without that 
 extreme freedom of his dashing pencil : being more minute and fearful, but the 
 colouring is clear, natural, and good. In his later pictures, the colouring, 
 though excellent, is often more artificial than chaste. 
 
 As an Historical Painter, he cannot be placed in the same rank which he holds 
 in the line of Portraiture. The compositions of his portraits are unquestionably 
 excellent, whilst his historical pictures are in this respect often very defective. 
 They frequently consist of borrowed parts, which are not always in harmony 
 with each other. Though often inaccurate, and deficient in style of drawing, 
 they must however be allowed to possess consummate taste, and some of them 
 great expression. His light, poetical pieces, much excelled those of a narrative 
 or historical character. 
 
 Sir Joshua was a man of general information, and was candid in stating his 
 
MEMOIRS OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, KNIGHT. 
 
 49 
 
 opinions. It has been very justly observed, that there is as much wisdom shown 
 in bearing- other people's defects, as in approving their good qualities, and that 
 a well regulated mind finds it easier to yield to a perverse one than to direct 
 and manage it. This wisdom was eminently possessed by Sir Joshua. His 
 general manners, deportment, and behaviour, were amiable and prepossessing ; 
 his disposition was naturally courtly; he evinced a desire always to pay a due 
 respect to persons in superior stations, and certainly contrived to move in a 
 higher sphere of society than any other English artist had done before him. 
 Thus he procured for professors of the Arts a consequence, dignity, and recep- 
 tion, which they had never before possessed in this country. His conversation 
 was remarkably elegant, affable, and intelligent. He possessed an equable flow 
 of spirits, which rendered him at all times a most desirable companion : ever 
 ready to be amused, and to contribute to the amusement of others. In many 
 respects, both as a painter and a man, Sir Joshua Reynolds cannot be too much 
 praised, studied, and imitated. His incessant industry was never wearied into 
 despondency by miscarriage, nor elated into negligence by success. All nature 
 and all art combined to form his academy ; with a mind at once capacious and 
 vigorous, to comprehend all the varieties of the picturesque, he had taste to 
 select, and skill to combine whatever might serve the objects he had in view. 
 Although gentle and complying in his intercourse with the world, yet in his 
 profession, having by intense study matured his judgment, he never sacrificed 
 his opinions to the casual caprices of his employers. Far from over-rating his 
 own talents however, he did not seem to hold them in that degree of estimation 
 which they deservedly obtained from the public. In short, it may be safely said 
 that his faults were few, and those were much subdued by his wisdom : for no 
 man had more reverence for virtue, or a higher regard for unsullied fame. 
 
 Here our memoir of Sir Joshua had closed : but it having been frequently 
 inquired whether this great artist had any scholars, and what have been their 
 destinies, and professional characters, I am induced to subjoin a few remarks on 
 this subject. Sir Joshua certainly had many pupils, who resided, for years, 
 under his roof. It is a surprising fact, however, that scarcely any of their names 
 have ever been heard of as painters. Since the decease of their master most of 
 
50 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 them have lived in obscurity, and died in indigence. To account for this seeming 
 paradox, many reasons may be assigned ; — First, the vast difficulties of art render 
 its higher branches unattainable to nine-tenths of those persons who profess, or 
 pretend to study it : Second, Sir Joshua never having received a well founded 
 education in the principles of painting, was forced to make his own way by the 
 efforts of genius, and unwearied industry : hence all those excellences which he 
 possessed could not be imparted, or taught to another, and what could be taught, 
 he did not sufficiently possess. It is art which the scholar is to learn, and not 
 genius. Sir Joshua seems to have disdained the rules of art, and generally 
 snatched a grace beyond them. In short we must conclude, that, whatever may 
 be the reason, he was not the master to produce good scholars. Yet, like his 
 predecessor, Kneller, he occasioned imitators, in myriads ; and this proneness to 
 imitation has not yet ceased to infest the country. The young painter, however, 
 who daubs because Sir Joshua daubed, is like the fool who purchased the lamp 
 of Epictetus. J - N - 
 
 To the preceding memoir, from the pen of Sir Joshua's pupil, and an artist of considerable eminence, 
 I am tempted to subjoin the following lines, by the amiable Goldsmith. They constitute a part of his 
 much admired poem— Retaliation— and are at once an honour to the head of the writer, and to the 
 character of the artist. Like the fascinating paintings of Sir Joshua, the writings of Goldsmith will 
 always please, and though often examined, will never seem dull, tame, or insipid. 
 
 " Here Reynolds is laid, and, to tell you my mind, 
 He has not left a wiser, or better behind : 
 His pencil was striking, resistless and grand ; 
 His manners were gentle, complying, and bland ; 
 Still born to improve us in every part, 
 His pencil our faces, his manners our heart: 
 To coxcombs averse, yet most civilly steering, 
 When they judg'd without skill he was still hard of hearing; 
 When they talk'd of their RafTaelles', Corregios', and stuff, 
 He shifted his trumpet 1 and only took snuff." 
 
 • Sir JoJ.ua, being rather deaf, used an car-trumpet. A very fine portrait of himself, in the collection at Streatham, .how, . 
 front view of his face with his open hand to his ear. 
 
 END OF THE MEMOIR. 
 
REMARKS ON THE PICTURE 
 
 OF 
 
 GARRICK BETWEEN TRAGEDY AND COMEDY: 
 
 PAINTED BY 
 
 SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 The painting, from which the annexed print is engraved, is one of those rare, 
 and successful works of art, that must please almost every class of persons. The 
 professed painter, the learned connoisseur, and the common observer, will each 
 be delighted with it : but the first will derive the most complete pleasure, 
 because he alone can justly appreciate its worth and merit. To him it unfolds 
 the most irresistible and undescribable traits of excellence ; for it manifests an 
 enlightened mind and a refined taste in the painter. As a work of art it may 
 be said to approximate perfection ; its merits are many, its defects few : indeed 
 it would require the full exertion of fastidious criticism to point out any 
 essential fault. In design, composition, colouring, expression, and, above all, 
 identity of personal features, and felicitous adaptation of character and senti- 
 ment, it is a performance that amply justifies those elegant lines of Shee's 
 " Rhymes on Art," which apply to Reynolds ; 
 
 " whose Genius rais'd his country's name, 
 
 Refin'd her taste, and led her Arts to fame ; 
 Whose powers unrival'd. Envy's self disarm'd ; 
 Whose pen instructed, and whose pencil charm'd. 
 Hail, Star of Art! by whose instinctive ray 
 Our boreal lights were kindled into day." 
 
 Such is Reynolds' general character ; and we shall find it exemplified in the 
 picture now before us. This may be called a poetical portrait, or an historical 
 
52 
 
 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 allegory : a living character constitutes the subject of the composition, but this 
 is embellished by the fancy of the artist. Thus a real, or a fictitious person is 
 made the hero of an epic poem, but the accomplished writer gives additional 
 interest to his production, by introducing- analogous metaphor and appropriate 
 episode. In the higher branches of history a skilful author adopts the same 
 mode to impress facts with additional force and effect. Gibbon, Robertson, 
 and Turner, by the exercise of vivid imaginations, thus illumine the dulness of 
 historical relations, and strew its most dreary paths with the flowers of rhetoric. 
 It is thus indeed that genius exalts and dignifies its productions. In the present 
 instance we have a specimen of genuine portrait, adorned and illustrated by 
 allegoric personages; these, however, are not the often repeated, common- 
 place, or mythological characters of antiquity : but are novel and appropriate 
 personifications of tragedy and comedy ; and of such tragedy and comedy as 
 are the native offspring of the English drama, bearing but a distant affinity to 
 the Thalia and Melpomene of the Greeks. Hence the picture is truly English ; 
 and is thereby rendered more eminently interesting - to the English critic. As 
 Garrick was the first British actor who introduced nature to the stage, by 
 disclaiming unnatural rant, and by wisely excluding all empty pomp and puerile 
 affectation ; so Reynolds was the first English painter that gave mind, character, 
 and elegance to portrait. He was the founder of a grand epoch in the graphic 
 art, as Garrick was in the dramatic ; and both attained such distinguished 
 pre-eminence in their respective professions, that although thousands of persons 
 may emulously hope to become their equals, scarcely one will prove the superior 
 of either. Young players and young painters will act wisely by studying- 
 these great men ; by inquiring minutely and critically into their characters, 
 manners, habits, and pursuits ; and it will be found, that though both were 
 blessed with natural genius, with inherent predilections for their respective 
 professions, yet both studied diligently and laboured hard to attain the dearly 
 bought, but invaluable meed of fame. If we revert to the private lives of 
 Reynolds and Garrick, we shall find that their time was neither occupied by 
 trivial amusements, nor mispent in the vulgar sottishness of clubroom-convi- 
 viality, much less in the more debased pursuits of boxing, gambling, and sporting. 
 In their hours of relaxation from professional engagements, both sought the 
 company of the learned, the accomplished, and the polite. In " the feast of 
 
REMARKS ON THE PICTURE OF GARRICK, ETC. 
 
 53 
 
 reason and flow of soul," each largely participated and indulged ; and though 
 their respective pursuits were very dissimilar, yet they had many traits of dispo- 
 sition strictly in unison. Goldsmith's " Retaliation," with several other poems 
 and essays of that age, display a grand constellation of talent in the intellectual 
 hemisphere ; and this furnishes us with light to develope the history of those 
 men of learning who exalted the character of the age. Genius begets genius, 
 and talent, by exciting emulation, reproduces itself. The association of 
 Reynolds, Garrick, Burke, Littleton, Johnson, Sterne, Douglas, Cumberland, &c. 
 must have proved interesting and useful to each; and all must have derived 
 advantage from such a combination of intellect. That Reynolds profited 
 materially by it, I think may be fairly inferred from the style and character of 
 his pictures, and from the language and sentiments of his admirable discourses. 
 From such company his mind was progressively expanding, and acquiring vigour 
 for the application of the most useful axioms of philosophy to his art. His 
 professional pursuits, however, gave him one advantage over all his associates ; 
 as it procured him free and familiar access to the most accomplished, and most 
 elegant females of the age. By their converse his thoughts and habits must 
 have been softened, meliorated, and polished ; for " his manners were gentle, 
 complying, and bland :" from such associations even the barbarian would be 
 civilized, and the churlish clown refined. — To contemplate either individually, 
 or in the aggregate, these ornaments of the past age, even at a great distance, 
 is seductive and delightful. I leave them with regret ; for my duty demands 
 me to single out one principal character from this group, and to confine our 
 view to him and to only one of his works. 
 
 The '• Picture of Garrick between Tragedy and Comedy," was finished 
 previous to 1762, as in that year it was exhibited at the Spring Gardens' room *. 
 Like an extraordinary meteor, or the shock of an earthquake, this novel 
 production astonished all that saw and felt it. Very far superior to any of 
 the works of Hudson, Hayman, Penny, and others, his contemporaries; its 
 
 1 Persons were admitted, this year, on paying one shilling for a catalogue; which served as a ticket 
 of free admission for the whole period of exhihition, not only to the purchaser, but to any other person 
 with this passport. The receipts at the door were ,£524. 8s. in spite of such unlimited privilege. In the 
 catalogue was a preface, " presented" by Mr. Reynolds, and probably written by him, though attributed 
 to Dr. Johnson, in the introduction to Edwards' " Anecdotes of Painters." 4to. 1808. 
 
54 
 
 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 originality, beauty, and fascination, excited the general curiosity and admiration 
 of the metropolitans. The exhibition room was crowded, and the true lovers 
 of the arts exulted at the powerful effect produced by an English artist. The 
 names of Garrick and Reynolds were associated in conversation, and learned 
 critics, as well as fashionable prattlers, thus obtained a theme for judicious 
 animadversion as well as for silly gossipping. Panegyric and profitable employ- 
 ment flowed in upon the artist ; but, what was of more importance, an English 
 painting formed the popular subject of discourse and encomium From a 
 number of literary compliments, I am induced to select one, written by 
 Cumberland, because he had taste to appreciate the player and the painter. In 
 his original epilogue to " The Brothers," a comedy, he asks, 
 
 " Who but has seen the celebrated strife, 
 Where Reynolds calls the canvass into life ; 
 And 'twixt the Tragic, and the Comic muse, 
 Courted by both, and dubious where to choose 
 The immortal actor stands ? Here we espy 
 An awful figure pointing to the sky ; 
 A grave, sublime, commanding form she bears, 
 And in her zone an unsheath'd dagger wears. 
 
 A plate was engraved from it in mezzotinto, by E. Fisher, in 1762, price 10s. 6d. The print, 
 twenty inches by sixteen, is inscribed " Reddere persona? scit convenientia cuique;" and I trust it 
 will not be thought invidious to remark, that the expression and character of Garrick's face are 
 very unlike the picture. Another plate was engraved by V. Green, and a third by C. Corbet: a 
 fourth, in the present work, it is hoped will be found, on examination, though executed under 
 considerable disadvantages, a more correct translation of the picture than either of the former. Sir 
 Joshua's painting is very difficult to copy; for the expression and colouring of the heads of Garrick 
 and Comedy appear to be rather the effect of magic than of art: the touch and pencilling are both 
 so exquisite, so extraordinary, that they almost defy imitation and elude detection. An unde- 
 scribable expression pervades these faces: we seek to analyze it, to ascertain its source, and cause; 
 but on scrutinizing the work closely, the eye is confounded, and the imagination perplexed. To Mr. 
 Joseph we are indebted for a very careful, elaborate, and, I believe, as faithful a copy as can be made : 
 and to Mr. Cardon for an engraving, which is honourable to his professional skill. — Soon after Fisher's 
 print was published, it was copied abroad, and thus absurdly inscribed by the French engraver: — 
 " L hoinme entre le Vice, et la Vertu;" that is, the Man between Vice and Virtue: thus absurdly 
 and stupidly designating beauty, innocence, and fascination as vice: and stiff solemnity as virtue. 
 
REMARKS ON THE PICTURE OF GARRICK, ETC. 
 
 55 
 
 On t'other side, with sweet attractive mien, 
 The playful muse of Comedy is seen : 
 She, with a thousand soft, bewitching- smiles, 
 Mistress of Love, his yielding- heart beguiles." 
 
 This painting- was purchased by the Earl of Halifax for three hundred guineas, 
 and, after his death, sold to John Julius Angerstein, Esq. for two hundred and 
 fifty guineas. Strange, that a work of so much merit should ever be depre- 
 ciated in value ! ! It is now at that gentleman's seat at Blackheath, in Kent. 
 
 The composition, and distribution of light and shade of this inestimable 
 picture, may be understood by the annexed print ; but its colouring, expression, 
 and many other peculiar beauties, can only be satisfactorily seen, and justly 
 appreciated by a careful examination of the original. These can neither be 
 translated nor transcribed; and an abridgment must be still more inefficient. 
 The last process, however, is the only mode by which we are enabled to convey 
 any representation of it to the world ; and when this is executed with skill and 
 taste, accompanied by accurate description, both together are calculated to 
 inform, gratify, and delight all real lovers of the arts. 
 
 In composing the picture, Reynolds placed the hero, or subject in the centre ; 
 with his right arm, and the motion of his body, advancing towards Comedy, who 
 with a fascinating smile, and bewitching- air, endeavours to entice him from 
 the gloomy company and solemn haunts of Tragedy. He seems " nothing- 
 loth," and may be supposed to have acceded to her invitation, when the dignified 
 goddess of terror and pity clasps him by the arm, and demands a moment's 
 parley. She expatiates on the sublime pre-eminence of her province ; and with 
 erect posture, fixed eye, and uplifted hand, pointing to heaven, persuades him 
 to continue her votary, and to seek glorious immortality in her company. 
 
 " Stern and erect the buskin'd dame 
 In high dramatic wrath appears, 
 With energy supports her claim, 
 And seems to thunder in his ears." 
 
 A Pindaric Ode, addressed to Reynolds, in 1767. 
 Q 
 
56 
 
 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 Instead of repulsing- the heroine, he evinces an attachment to her, by an 
 inclination of his head and an aifable smile. The captivating- little syren, 
 however, has superior attractions : her fascinations are more powerful. Her 
 face, character, and expression, combine all that is lovely and enchanting-. 
 Playful but modest, seductive but innocent, she appears too captivating-, even 
 for the stoicism of man to resist. Thus the same poet describes her. 
 
 " While the inveigling comic fair, 
 
 With aspect sly, and artful air, 
 To draw her favourite to her arms, 
 
 Strains every nerve ; but, as she strives, 
 
 With the sweet attitude contrives 
 To impart the stronger influence to her charms." 
 
 The position, air, attitude, and expression of the player, are indicative of his 
 professional merits ; for Garrick, though impressive and admirable in tragedy, 
 was pre-eminent and unrivalled in comedy. This Sir Joshua saw, as an 
 historian, and has recorded the fact in his own language. He has not related it 
 as a dull chronicler, or precise annalist would have done, but in the manner of 
 a great epic poet. If Homer and Milton have delineated their respective 
 heroes with more circumstantiality of detail, I am persuaded that neither of 
 those great poets has depicted his hero, in any single scene or act, with more 
 energy, grandeur, and philosophical justness. Hence the design may be called 
 poetical, the arrangement dramatic, and the subject historical ; whilst the 
 execution is profoundly scientific and exquisitely tasteful. After describing the 
 figures of Comedy and Tragedy, the ode, already referred to, thus proceeds ; 
 
 " Betwixt them with distracted mien, 
 
 The object of their strife is seen ; 
 His eyes with w ild confusion roll ; 
 
 Mix'd passions, with alternate sway, 
 
 In his ambiguous features play, 
 And speak as yet the undetermin'd soul : 
 
REMARKS ON THE PICTURE OF GARRICK, ETC. 
 
 57 
 
 But that half assenting leer, 
 Obliquely on the little wheedler thrown, 
 
 Portends, though check'd with awkward fear, 
 That soon the apostate will be all her own." 
 
 In this short review of the picture, I think, we have seen that the artist has 
 told his story well ; placed his figures with judgment, given them appropriate 
 character and expression, and executed the whole with consummate skill and 
 taste. We must not leave the subject here : for, by a further examination, we 
 shall find more excellence, and thereby derive additional pleasure. The back- 
 ground and colouring next claim our attention, and will also command our 
 admiration. Both are apposite, judicious, harmonious, excellent. The former 
 is adapted to, and accords with the figures and with their attributes. Tragedy 
 is overshadowed, as it were, by an abrupt, rocky, gloomy, cavernous back-ground ; 
 whilst Comedy is accompanied by a cheerful, open landscape, a serene sky, and 
 is canopied with light and rich foliage. The hero, in this peculiarity, also 
 participates with both, but has more of the landscape than the rock, and is just 
 emerging from gloom to day, from dulness to gaiety, from the vale of sorrow 
 to the regions " of life, and light, and joy." The colouring of this back-ground 
 is strictly in unison with the design, and materially heightens its effect. In the 
 flesh, and drapery of the figures, the most judicious tints, or tones of colour are 
 applied to each; and though some of these are vivid and brilliant, yet the 
 whole is harmonious and splendid. All the hues of the rainbow are centred in 
 this piece ; and, like the colours of that atmospheric vision, these are gradated 
 from light to dark, from yellow to blue, from the " blushing morn" of comedy, 
 to the " gloomy eve" of tragedy. Comedy is touched with the gayest colours: 
 
 yellow, red, and orange, are variously blended and tastefully arranged, 
 
 sparkling in the lights, and tranquil in the shades. Iris herself could not be 
 more beautiful in colour, or light and elegant in her draperies. In the vest of 
 Garrick the yellow, of rather darker hue, is continued from the drapery of 
 Comedy, and conducted from his figure into the clouds, through the autumnal 
 tints of the foliage. A cloak, or mantle of sober green is thrown obliquely 
 across his body; and this, by artful management of light and shade, is the 
 connecting link, the combining medium between orange and blue. Tragedy is 
 
58 
 
 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 clothed in a long, loose robe of the latter colour: but its lightest part is rather 
 of that tint called slate, and the darkest approaches to black. Much more 
 might be said on this profound picture, for it furnishes a theme of unusual and 
 commanding- interest. Garrick and Reynolds are reciprocally honoured by it : 
 and, we may correctly say, that the talents of the painter have been laudably 
 exerted in producing an original monument to the genius of the player. Thus 
 
 " Genius, like Egypt's monarchs, timely wise, 
 Constructs his own memorial ere he dies ; 
 Leaves his best image in his works enshrin'd, 
 And makes a mausoleum of mankind." shee. 
 
 In this imperfect essay I have endeavoured to describe the design, expression, 
 colouring, and character of Sir Joshua's picture ; and I trust that my sentiments 
 and language will be intelligible to all classes of readers. To those who have 
 seen the painting, the remarks may serve to renew past pleasure, and recal its 
 image more forcibly to their minds ; whilst such as have not seen it, may, from 
 the print and description, derive some amusement and some knowledge. The 
 liberal critic will forgive me if I have not fully gratified his wishes. I do not 
 profess to instruct the profound connoisseur or the skilful painter: my intention 
 is accomplished, and ambition gratified, if I have comprehended the design and 
 talents of the artist, felt the merit of his picture, and rendered that merit more 
 apparent to the uninitiated observer. 
 
 It was my intention to have given a concise memoir of Garrick, or rather 
 an essay on his talents as a player and an author; but I find so much has 
 already been written and published on these subjects, that after perusing three 
 or four volumes I despaired of adducing any novelty of fact or of criticism. If 
 the reader be desirous of studying the history of this great dramatic luminary, 
 and of the stage during his career, he will find ample materials in Davies' 
 " Life, &c. of Garrick," two vols. 8vo. 1808 ; Murphy's " Life of David Garrick," 
 two vols. 8vo. 1801 ; Cumberland's " Memoirs of himself," two vols. 8vo. 1807 ; 
 " The Monthly Review ;" and " The Theatrical Review," 8vo. 1762. 
 
 Dec. 25, 1811. J- B. 
 
 END OF THE ESSAY. 
 
A BRIEF 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR 
 
 RICHARD WILSON, ESQ. R.A. PAINTER: 
 
 AN ENGRAVED PORTRAIT BY W. BOND, FROM A PICTURE BY 
 
 antonro Eaptel agentjg, 
 
 To write a satisfactory memoir of such an artist as Wilson, is an arduous and 
 delicate task, for he was a painter who possessed original and pre-eminent 
 talents: his best works are replete with extraordinary merit: they command 
 our warmest admiration; but it is difficult to describe and define their peculiar 
 and positive characteristics. They are g-enerally grand, and often sublime, in 
 composition ; broad and skilful in effects of light and shade ; exquisitely harmo- 
 nious and rich in colour; appropriate and judicious in the arrangement of 
 parts, and adaptation of effect to that arrangement ; hence it may be confidently 
 said, that the best landscapes, by this master, are worthy to rank with the most 
 eminent paintings in the world. " Wilson," observes a learned and eloquent 
 professor of painting, " is now numbered with the classics of the art ; though 
 little more than the fifth part of a century elapsed since death relieved him 
 from the apathy of cognoscenti, the envy of rivals, and the neglect of a tasteless 
 public ; for Wilson, whose works will soon command prices as proud as those of 
 Claude, Poussin, or Elzheimer, resembled the last most in his fate, lived and 
 died nearer to indigence than ease, and, as an asylum from the severest events 
 incident to age and decay of powers, was reduced to solicit the librarian's place 
 
 R 
 
60 
 
 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 in the academy, of which he was one of the brightest ornaments." (Fuseli, in 
 Pilkintons Dictionary: edition 1805, p. 649.) This representation is certainly 
 distressing; but Wilson is not the only man of talent who has suffered from 
 neglect: for many others, after struggling through a life of difficulty and 
 contumely, have had their names emblazoned after death, and their works 
 sought for with avidity, and preserved as valuable treasures. The cause of 
 such events is not always to be ascertained ; sometimes it originates in the 
 individual, sometimes in the character of the age, often in deceptive patronage, 
 and occasionally in public indifference. The real cause, however, is not 
 generally recognised : for after a man of eminent abilities is deceased, we are 
 accustomed to examine and admire his works, while we forget or disregard 
 the individual. And if indeed we know that he had many eccentricities and 
 weaknesses, or even vices, we are inclined to pass them over with a sigh of pity 
 and of pardon. In early life, Wilson, like Barry, had many wealthy friends 
 and patrons, as will be shown in the sequel ; and it may be fairly presumed, that 
 the former as well as the latter forfeited such friendship by some impropriety of 
 conduct. If a man of fortune be disposed to honour an artist or an author 
 with patronage and friendly civilities, he is entitled at least to respect and 
 gratitude in return. This is the general issue of patronage ; for men of genius 
 are usually endowed with strong sympathies and good hearts. It is, however, 
 sometimes otherwise, and then many persons suffer for the ingratitude of a few. 
 We have unfortunately heard of one liberal patron of art first imposed on, and 
 then insulted by an infamous caricaturist ; and we have known other gentlemen 
 of generous dispositions annoyed by sottishness, and pestered by insolence. The 
 professional man must respect himself in order to be respected. 
 
 The life of Wilson is rather barren of incident: for he was not distinguished 
 by the eccentricities of Gainsborough ; the elegant suavity and popular manners 
 of Sir Joshua ; the disgusting vulgarity of Morland ; or the active and specu- 
 lating disposition of Hogarth : he appears to have devoted his time and thoughts 
 to his profession, and to the company of a few friends. He was certainly never 
 in affluence to attract public gaze and sycophancy : nor was he ever, like Barry, 
 reduced to the mortifying condition of having a public subscription raised in 
 his behalf. Wilson, indeed, is chiefly known by, and admired for, his pictures, 
 
MEMOIRS OF RICHARD WILSON, ESQ. 61 
 
 and these are more honorary than any marble memorials, which either private 
 friendship, or public award, might cause to be erected to his memory. 
 
 Richard Wilson, son of the Rev. John Wilson, was a native of North Wales, 
 but the place of his birth is not publicly recorded. His father was rector of 
 Pineges, in Montgomeryshire, at the time of our painter's birth, August the 1st, 
 1714: but the divine was soon afterwards advanced to the living of Mold, in 
 Flintshire. Of young Wilson's early studies, habits, and pursuits, no particulars 
 have been related. It is asserted by a writer, (probably one of Wilson's pupils,) 
 in the European Magazine for June, 1790, that " he received from his father 
 an excellent classical education, in the course of which he showed numberless 
 instances of his prevailing- love of the arts of design." To gratify this juvenile 
 partiality, and place it in the best sphere for emulation and action, young 
 Wilson was sent to London, in 1729, and placed under the tuition of T. Wright : 
 a man who assumed the title of an artist, but whose works are unknown, and 
 his name, perhaps, would have been equally unknown and disregarded, but 
 from the fame of his pupil. In this situation Wilson remained six years, and 
 then commenced the profession of portrait painting. Among his early works, 
 in this class, were portraits of the Prince of Wales, afterwards George III. and 
 his brother, the Duke of York. These were executed for Dr. Hayter, bishop of 
 Norwich, then tutor to the princes. Another portrait of the former prince, by 
 Wilson, was engraved in mezzotinto, by Faber. It is presumed that portrait 
 painting was not congenial to our artist's taste, or that he was not much 
 encouraged, for we scarcely ever hear of any pictures by him in this branch of 
 art. Mr. Lock, of Norbury Park, who is distinguished for refined taste and 
 scientific knowledge, informs me that Wilson's portrait of the late Mr. Lock is 
 creditable to his talents. It was painted at Venice, soon after Wilson left 
 England, probably in the year 1749; and the interviews thereby occasioned 
 between the sitter and artist, laid the foundation of a friendship and patronage 
 which must have proved highly advantageous to the young painter. It was at 
 Venice that Wilson made his first essays in landscape : a small picture of which 
 being seen by Zuccarelli, obtained the praise of that artist, who is said to have 
 advised him to pursue this line of the art exclusively. The advice appears to 
 have produced its desired and proper effect on the mind of the English painter, 
 
62 
 
 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 for we hear no more of portraits by him ; instead of which, he eagerly pursued 
 his studies in another department of the profession. The broad and diversified 
 face of nature now claimed all his attention and all his faculties. In the company 
 of Mr. Lock he travelled slowly from Venice to Rome, and made numerous 
 sketches and studies in the progress of that journey. These are carefully 
 preserved, and justly valued by the present possessor of Norbury Park. Wilson 
 is said to have remained some time at Rome, without notice or employment; but 
 at length his talents were recognised and highly complimented by two foreign 
 artists. Vernet and Mengs, both then in repute, were so much delighted with 
 Wilson's landscapes, and manifested on this occasion so much liberality and good 
 taste, that each voluntarily offered to exchange a picture with the English artist. 
 The proposal was too flattering to be refused : and for a landscape by the 
 French painter, and a portrait 1 by the Bohemian, Wilson presented two pictures 
 in his own original style of composition and colouring. The peculiarity of these 
 circumstances redounds to the honour of all parties. Wilson was thus intro- 
 duced to public notice under the most favourable auspices, and whilst his own 
 bosom must have glowed with delightful sensations of gratitude and emulation, 
 his new friends could not fail to derive from the event much heartfelt pleasure. 
 He remained some years at Rome, where he prosecuted his studies with enthu- 
 siasm, and produced many pictures of distinguished merit. Among the illustrious 
 patrons he then obtained was the late Earl of Dartmouth, who invited Wilson 
 to accompany him on a tour to Naples. Many sketches and drawings made at 
 the latter place, and in the progress of their journey, are in the possession of 
 the present Earl of Dartmouth, who has also two landscapes by the same artist. 
 One of these, a distant view of Rome, has been engraved by Mr. Middiman, in 
 a masterly style, and is published in Forster's " British Gallery of Engravings." 
 In the year 1755 he returned to London, and occupied apartments over the 
 north piazza of Covent Garden, where he continued some time, and painted 
 
 1 This was a half length of Wilson himself; and was considered not only a good portrait, hut 
 a picture of much merit. It is coloured with spirit, vigour, and harmony; and has been admirably 
 copied by Mr. Taylor, under the inspection of Wilson. From this copy the annexed print is engraved. 
 The original, in the possession of Sir Watkin W. Wynne, at Wynnstay, could not be conveniently 
 and safely conveyed to London. 
 
MEMOIRS OF RICHARD WILSON, ESQ. 
 
 63 
 
 many pictures. During- his stay in Rome, he was commissioned by the late 
 Duke of Bridgewater to paint a landscape, with figures illustrative of the story 
 of Niobe 2 . After the picture was finished, the duke employed Platio da 
 Constanza to alter, or repaint the figures. Incensed at this, Wilson commenced 
 another picture of the same size and subject, and brought it to England. In 
 the year 1760 he displayed this picture in the first exhibition: and it was 
 purchased by William, Duke of Cumberland. Woollett was immediately 
 engaged to engrave a plate from it in his best style. This was published in 
 1761 : and so skilful and tasteful was its execution, that Mr. Boydell, instead 
 of paying- the stipulated sum of fifty guineas, gave the engraver one hundred. 
 The same worthy civic publisher had also agreed with Woollett to engrave a 
 plate from Wilson's picture of Phaeton, for sixty guineas : but on the completion 
 of the work he again doubled the original sum. Such anecdotes are worthy to 
 be recorded, for they are honourable testimonies of generosity in the tradesman, 
 and of talent in the artist. Wilson had now obtained deserved celebrity ; and 
 he appears to have painted many of his best landscapes about this time. 
 Among- his most noted works the following- are known to almost every artist 
 and amateur, from the prints that have been engraved after them: — 1. The 
 Lake of Nemi; or, Speculum Diana;: 2. Phaeton: 3. View of Rome, from the 
 Villa Madama: 4. View of the Campagnia of Rome: 5. Fall of the Niagara: 
 6. Apollo and the Seasons: 7. Meleager and Atalanta, the figures in which were 
 
 1 This is in the gallery of the Marquis of Stafford: he painted three or more different pictures 
 of the same subject; a second is in the possession of Sir George Beaumont; and a third was sold at 
 the late Hon. Charles Greville's sale, in Paddington. It was one of these pictures that provoked 
 the censure of Sir Joshua Reynolds: who properly pronounces it " idle affectation and boyish folly" 
 to introduce mythological stories into English landscapes. " Wilson," observes this profound artist 
 and critic, " has been guilty, like many of his predecessors, of introducing gods, goddesses, and 
 ideal beings, into scenes which were by no means prepared to receive such personages. In conse- 
 quence of this mistake, in a very admirable picture of a storm, which I have seen of his hand, 
 many figures are introduced in the fore-ground, some in apparent distress, and some struck dead, as 
 a spectator would naturally suppose, by the lightning; had not the painter injudiciously, as I think, 
 rather chosen that their death should be imputed to a little Apollo, who appears in the sky with 
 his bent bow, and that those figures should be considered as the children of Niobe." (Discourse 
 XIV.) The Niobe, in Sir George Beaumont's possession, has been skilfully engraved by Samuel 
 Smith, in 1792; the figures in which are admirably executed by William Sharp. 
 
64 
 
 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 by Mortimer: 8. Solitude: 9. Cicero at his Villa: 10. Celadon and Amelia: and 
 11. Cei/x and Alcyone 3 . Besides these, he produced many other landscapes of 
 acknowledged merit ; from some of which, aiid from all the preceding, Woollett, 
 Pouncy, Rooker, Byrne, and Mason, have produced exquisite and interesting- 
 engravings. In this respect, indeed, Wilson was singularly fortunate ; for few 
 painters have ever had their works so successfully and skilfully translated by 
 engravers. In the best prints of Woollett and Rooker we are enabled to see 
 all the proportions, features, character, and chiaro-scuro of the original artist ; 
 but reduced as in a camera-obscura, and deprived of colours. 
 
 Wilson was one of the original members of the Royal Academy ; and after 
 the death of Hayman, in 1776, was appointed to be librarian of that institution. 
 Soon afterwards he retired to Wales, for the benefit of his health : for this was 
 greatly impaired by drinking. Among his native mountains he lingered a short 
 time, and died there in May, 1782. His fate, and that of George Morland, 
 (not that the former was ever so debased as the latter by intemperance,) should 
 be occasionally brought before the notice of the young student, to show the 
 value and importance of sobriety, prudence, and regularity of conduct : without 
 these, a man of talents (however transcendent these are,) cannot be worthy of 
 patronage, or fit to associate with men of wealth, taste, and integrity. For 
 
 " W orth makes the man, the want of it the fellow." 
 
 The professional productions of Wilson will be best understood and appre- 
 ciated if brought into systematic arrangement, and reviewed in classes. Under 
 
 » As these pictures have been extensively known by means of beautiful and valuable prints, 
 1 subjoin a list of the engravers' names, and of the dates of publication, with references to the 
 numbers above; for some of these engravers are entitled to participate in the fame of the painter; — 
 1. by Wood, 1764:— 2. by Woollett, 1763 — 3 and 4. by William Byrne, 1765:— 5. by the same engraver, 
 1774:— 6 and 7. by Woollett and Pouncy, 1777:— 8 and 9. by Woollett and Ellis, 1778:— 10. by Browne 
 and Woollett, 1776: — and 11. by the latter engraver, 1769. 
 
 Besides these prints, the following were published after Wilson : twelve Views in Rome, &c. etched 
 by Rooker, Farington, Gandon, Hodges, &c. also six Views in Wales, by Mason, Byrne, and Rooker. 
 The latter six may be considered the most interesting set of topographical prints ever published in 
 this country. Impressions of these, and of many other plates after Wilson, may be procured of 
 Boydell and Co. London; and of Mrs. Woollett. 
 
MEMOIRS OF RICHARD WILSON, ESQ. 
 
 the four following heads, I believe, that all his works (excepting- portraits) 
 will be included: 1. Sketches, studies, and drawings: 2. Topographical views 
 of English scenery : 3. Italian and other foreign views : 4. Landscapes, with 
 figures allusive to poetical and mythological stories. In each and all of these 
 different species, Wilson produced, and has left behind him a great number and 
 variety. All are valuable and interesting, because all are the productions of 
 genius; and however slight, or however crude, they will certainly excite 
 pleasure and admiration in kindred minds. It would not be very difficult to 
 trace the progress of his studies, and the rise and decline of his talents, by 
 referring to, and analyzing his principal works. Many of these are now carefully 
 treasured by noblemen and gentlemen, who are qualified to feel and appreciate 
 their merits*; but though this task would afford me infinite pleasure, it would 
 require a much more extended disquisition than I can properly admit into the 
 present work. 
 
 From the preceding list it will be seen that Wilson, like other landscape 
 painters, occasionally delineated views of certain places, and I do not conceive 
 that he is thereby depreciated in the estimation of the impartial critic : yet 
 we have been told that landscape painting is the lowest branch of the Fine 
 Arts, and that those who practise it are little better than " topographers and 
 map-makers." Thus a whole class has been stigmatized for the insipidity, or 
 tasteless puerility of a few of its members. It is thus that prejudice is created, 
 and young minds deceived by false or unfair representations. A professor of a 
 liberal art should inculcate maxims of liberality as well as science : for without 
 the former the latter can never be substantially effective. Let us for a moment 
 consider this subject, for it is intimately connected with the works of Wilson. 
 It will not be very difficult to prove that many of his pictures, which are strictly 
 " topographical," are replete with merit, and are now fully appreciated and 
 
 « W. Leader, Esq. of Putney, I believe has the largest collection; and the choice is honourable 
 to his taste: Mr. Cooper, of Gower Street, has three; Mr. P. Hoare has a very singular and fine view 
 of a country public house, sun set; Mr. Oakley, of Tavistock Place, has two, in the best style and 
 time of the artist. The picture of the Lake of Nemi is at Stourhead: — Mr. Roberts, of Lamb's 
 Conduit Street, London, has the picture of Solitude, and two or three smaller landscapes: Mr. 
 Turner, R. A. has two: and Charles Oldfield Bowles, Esq. of North Aston, Oxfordshire, has a 
 collection of Wilson's sketches. 
 
66 
 
 FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. 
 
 valued by the impartial connoisseur. Some of Claude's, Gasper Poussins, and 
 Ruysdael's, are representations of particular scenes, and are certainly not the 
 less interesting or valuable from that circumstance : for truth is preferable to 
 falsehood ; reality is more valuable than fiction ; the works of nature are more 
 worthy of imitation and regard than the inventions of man. Hence a well 
 painted view of a scene which is pleasing- for its picturesque arrangement of 
 parts, or interesting' from some memorable event with which it is associated in 
 the writings of the historian or the poet, will always be esteemed and admired 
 by the man of true taste. " Far from me, and far from my friends," says Dr. 
 Johnson, " be such frigid philosophy, as may conduct us indifferent and unmoved 
 over any ground which has been dignified by wisdom, bravery, or virtue." And 
 equally far from me be that apathy or torpid stupidity which can view, without 
 emotion, a good picture illustrative of such " dignified ground." Excellent 
 painting is calculated to produce intellectual pleasure, and to excite emotions 
 and associations of an exalted and philanthropic nature. 
 
 From the landscapes of Wilson, Gainsborough, Wright, Turner, Calcott, 
 T. and W. Daniel, Girtin, Cousins, Ward, Glover, Arnold ; and from many 
 young- artists of the present day, various views of places could be easily selected, 
 to prove that in such works there are abundant manifestations of taste and 
 talent. The tame and tasteless painter who attempts to delineate every common- 
 place scene that is presented to his view, or copies all objects indiscriminately, 
 is almost beneath the notice of criticism, and is certainly unworthy of appro- 
 bation ; but the artist who, like Wilson and Turner, after having- chosen a scene 
 for pictoreal representation, can portray all the local features of that scene, and 
 at the same time embellish them with the most favourable effects of light and 
 shade, sun, mist, cloud and varied colours of the seasons, is entitled to our 
 admiration and praise. It speaks a language to be understood by all persons 
 of every nation and every situation in life; because the scenery of nature is 
 unfolded to all eyes, and he " who runs may read." 
 
 Jan. 1812. J- B- 
 
 END OF THE MEMOIR. 
 
A 
 
 MONUMENTAL STATUE: 
 
 DESIGNED AND EXECUTED IN MARBLE 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN FLAXMAN, ESQ. R. A. 
 
 THE SUBJECT, 
 
 " THY WILL BE DONE;" 
 
 on, 
 
 RESIGNATION. 
 
 To accomplish a great end by small means, is one of the chief tests and 
 prerogatives of genius. Few and simple as are the materials afforded by a 
 single figure, nearly covered with drapery, the inventive genius of Mr. Flaxman 
 has taken a wider scope than that of the pious expression suggested by the 
 words of the motto, and has expanded the sentiment of Resignation into the 
 loftier, comprehensive, and generic character of Religion. The delicate and 
 devoutly compressed hands, and general air of the figure, exhibit the pious 
 confidence of Faith. A holy Hope is displayed in the elevated countenance, 
 " divinely darting upward every wish." The superior grace of Charity, whose 
 capacious bosom glows with the general love of fellow-man, pre-eminently 
 shines in the benignant face, and gentle aspect of the whole form. These 
 prime features of Religion are more forcibly portrayed in the native expression 
 of the figure than they could be by a hundred such extrinsic emblems as the 
 Cross, the Anchor, and naked Children; for they address the sympathetic 
 feelings of the heart, and awaken its best affections by the enchanting 
 
2 SCULPTURE : MONUMENTAL STATUE ; BY FLAXMAN. 
 
 representation of elevated piety and moral purity. The drapery is an accessory 
 to these exalted expressions ; for it possesses copiousness, simplicity, and sobriety 
 of character, without concealing- the general gracefulness of the form. Its 
 undisturbed length of fold harmonizes with, and assists the expression of pious 
 serenity. Little more is seen than a full mantle, which, after covering the 
 head, in the modest form of a hood, falls, in graceful folds, over nearly the 
 whole of the statue. This singleness, united with a plainness wholly divested 
 of ornament, aids the purity of mental expression. Indeed, we recognize 
 throughout this figure the purity and perfections of a Saint; of a mind in the 
 consecrated hour of devotion, absorbed in divine contemplation. As contrast 
 and sudden variation would have lessened the requisite delicacy of expression, 
 the figure and drapery present a gentle undulation of lines, the result of which 
 is Grace. The forms elegantly diverge from a centre like the curved radii of a 
 circle, producing harmony throughout. This was a favourite principle of the 
 Greek Sculptors. The characteristic amplitude of the folds is prevented from 
 degenerating into a paucity of shapes by the intermixture of some smaller and 
 more delicate forms. In fine, science, judgment, and taste have united their 
 best powers in the production of beauty, grace, harmony, and elevated expres- 
 sion ; the heart owns their soft enchantment, and is soothed into complacency 
 by the celestial mien of this daughter of Genius and of Heaven. Innocence 
 and pious Hope have tranquillized the features, and composed the limbs to a 
 graceful and pious serenity of attitude. The world is forgotten ; the senses are 
 at rest; the rapt thought has stretched beyond the sublunary limit, penetrated 
 the wide expanse of Creation into the beatific regions, and, before the celestial 
 throne, holds audience with the Deity. 
 
 R. H. 
 
THOMAS HOP£ KtfQ. 
 it nm.-J.i Ti J -'^ iftjfrini-i pm**mt thmfa* An, tf g itfm d .dw Jim 
 
THE 
 
 EXPIATION OF ORESTES. 
 
 PAINTED BY 
 
 RICHARD WESTALL, ESQ. R. A. 
 
 FOR 
 
 THOMAS HOPE, ESQ. 
 
 Orestes, the hero of the history, or subject delineated in this picture, was the 
 son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. In the theatre at Athens, his story was 
 frequently and variously represented; but always in a manner calculated to 
 excite the most powerful emotions of the soul. The occurrences of his life 
 were chequered with singular vicissitudes, and he was often placed in very 
 perilous situations. Hence the dramas of " Agamemnon;" the " Chcephora;;" 
 and the " Eumenides ;" of ^Eschylus : the " Electra," of Sophocles : and the 
 " Electra;" the "Orestes;" and the " Iphigenia in Tauris," of Euripides, all 
 allusive to this Grecian prince, were highly interesting, and peculiarly adapted 
 to rouse the energies and passions of an Athenian audience. Whilst these 
 dramatic poems portrayed and described the most destructive passions, they 
 inculcated lessons of the sublimest virtues. They also served to perpetuate 
 many of those dreadful acts of vengeance that succeeded each other in the 
 unhappy family of Agamemnon. Persons and events thus rendered popular by 
 the poets, would consequently engage the attention, and call into exercise the 
 talents of the artists. As the latter abounded in Greece, we may fairly infer, 
 that several of them made designs from the adventures of Orestes. Though the 
 records of history have not transmitted, to our times, the names of many, yet it 
 is well authenticated that Theodorus, and Theon, also Timomachus the Byzan- 
 tine, who lived in the time of Caesar the dictator, all painted pictures from the 
 life of Orestes. On the Greek vases, which have been published by Sir William 
 
4 
 
 PAINTING : EXPIATION OF ORESTES ; BY WESTALL. 
 
 Hamilton, and by Tischbien from Sir William's collection, are several subjects 
 taken from the exploits of the same Grecian hero. 
 
 The picture now under consideration is principally composed from a deli- 
 neation on a large Greek vase in the possession of Thomas Hope, Esq. On 
 this the artist has displayed Apollo, Minerva, Orestes, two heads of human fig ures, 
 and two of the furies : the latter are represented with wings The English 
 painter, in forming his picture from these materials, has arranged, drawn, and 
 composed thein, as seemed most agreeable to his own fancy ; and the annexed 
 engraving will display with what skill and discrimination he has acquitted 
 himself. Orestes is shewn in the foreground of the picture, kneeling on a 
 cushion : with his right arm extended, he presents the spear, with which he 
 murdered his mother, to the expiatory flame, beneath the sacred altar. Whilst 
 Minerva is watching his actions, Apollo is protecting him from the " ^7 P i f i'y*»7«' 
 x£ves," or enraged dogs of his mother, as the furies are emphatically termed by 
 jEschylus. The scene is the Temple of Apollo, at Delphi. Over the altar is 
 seen the sacred laurel, which is often noticed by iEschylus 3 , Aristophanes *, 
 Lucretius 5 , and Lucan 6 . 
 
 The subject thus represented, as well as that on the Greek vase, is not strictly 
 conformable to the dramatic poems here alluded to, or to any other Greek 
 writings which have descended to us. But the ancient artist seems to have 
 concentrated in one picture different circumstances relating to the expiation, 
 and acquittal of Orestes. The action approaches the nearest to that exhibited 
 in the Eumenides of iEschylus, where Orestes is described as a suppliant in the 
 temple of Apollo at Delphi. J. L. B. 
 
 1 An engraving of this vase is published in M. Millin's Monumen. Anliq. inedit. T. I. p. 203. 
 wherein the author has also given a prolix dissertation on the subject. 
 
 8 The number of furies that followed Orestes, and constituted the tragic chorus, on the Athenian 
 stage, was fifty at the time of jEschylus ; but the terror these excited among the spectators, occa- 
 sioned a law to be passed to abridge the number. On Mr. Hope's vase, and on another in Sir 
 William Hamilton's collection, two only are shewn. A marble in the Museo Pin Clementina, presents 
 foui-. In the picture now under notice, the artist has introduced only one, which he probably considers 
 as the Coryphaeus, or representative of the whole chorus. This fury is furnished with wings, in imitation 
 of those displayed on Mr. Hope's vase; and Millin remarks, that this " is the only monument, hitherto 
 known, that represents the furies with wings." (Man. Ajtfiq. inedit. T. I. p. 287.) 
 
 3 Eumenides, v. 30. * Plutus, v. 213. « lib. 5. « Pharealia, 1. a. v. 155. 
 
AST ALT© SOBIiHBV©: 
 
 Desi^nd and executed ui M.irlile 
 by 
 
 JOHN fiASMAN, Esq.B.A. 
 
 7^ JiH TH03SA S SARIN G Bar' MH ii f.im-'i .n' ;ht HntiMi Insluuiwn Mid mi rwurajfr- Pf die tint Arte lius I'Uut U nsraiiidlj, iiMrHfJ hr 
 
 ft^B, mti and J.firirton 
 Zi'«rfWi.-A/>4.fArt/ X-r! J" /,■>!•■ L-tytnm X- tfJtanwtur Rnr J r,ah<r Hiah ABUM *IT2M ITii HI Stmt 
 
A 
 
 MONUMENTAL ALTO-RELIEVO: 
 
 DESIGNED, AND EXECUTED IN MARBLE, 
 
 JOHN FLAXMAN, ESQ. R.A. 
 
 THE SUBJECT, 
 
 " THY KINGDOM COME." 
 
 Regarding the Fine Arts as objects of Commerce, the patriotic Statesman and 
 enlightened Amateur will consider it a duty to cultivate them for the industry 
 and wealth which they are calculated to engender: but estimating- them by the 
 higher scale of intellect, they will more duly appreciate their value, and promote 
 their advancement as fertile sources of rational pleasure and mental refinement. 
 Even where no lesson of knowledge or virtue is conveyed by the artist, a 
 peculiar delight is often derived from the bland and harmonious arrangement 
 of colour, light and shade, and by a select and graceful disposure of form. By 
 means of the latter, and most valuable element of art, Mr. Flaxman's genius, 
 like the mid-day sun shining on a waste, can confer pleasure in a representation 
 of the simplest objects; but it is only employed worthy of its powers when 
 exercised on an elevated subject, like that before us, in which the dignity and 
 happy destination of man is designated from one of the pious wishes breathed 
 in the comprehensive prayer of the great author of Christianity. 
 
 Grouping. — The Sculptor's judgment in grouping is here so conspicuous, that 
 we can hardly conceive an alteration of a single member of the piece that 
 would not injure the general effect. Thus to combine a number of figures, so 
 as to be not only pleasing but unexceptionable, manifests an accomplished 
 
 1! 
 
6 
 
 SCULPTURE : MONUMENTAL ALTO-RELIEVO ; BY FLAXMAN. 
 
 judgment, and is of more difficult attainment in statuary than in painting', as the 
 latter has the power of concealing in shade what would be unpleasantly obtrusive 
 in light. The space which the figures occupy is full without being crowded. 
 There is no insipid vacuity, or unsightly accumulation of objects ; no harsh, 
 angular opposition, or monotonous distribution of parts. They so gracefully 
 accord with, or gently vary from, each other, that in whatever way we 
 contemplate the individual or collective grouping, we shall be pleased with its 
 beauty and satisfied with its propriety. 
 
 Expression. — Anticipating that great " day of consummation," — that momen- 
 tous period in which the " Kingdom of God" shall come to the virtuous, — a 
 female Saint is represented with her offspring on their passage to the heavenly 
 region, borne up by celestial delegates. Her uplifted head and arms, and eager 
 attitude, denote her pious exultation at the happy event of having, for ever, 
 past the bounds of mortality, sorrow, and guilt, and at entering the realms of 
 unfading bliss. The felicity of the blessed, and the eternal sunshine of heaven, 
 already appear to animate the faces and forms of the saintly travellers as they 
 approach the sacred portal of paradise, and begin to inhale the atmosphere of 
 immortal youth and happiness. Having burst the bars of death, they already 
 hail their translation to the skies. 
 
 R. H. 
 
 The above described Alto-Relievo, with the two other specimens of Sculpture illustrating the 
 passages of " Deliver tis from Ecil," and " Thy will be done," are placed in Micheldever Church, 
 Hampshire, and constitute a sculptured memorial, which the late Sir Francis Baring caused to he 
 executed in memory of a beloved and amiable wife. Unlike the generality of monuments, this 
 consists of three distinct and detached subjects: a statue of the size of life, and two tablets with 
 figures in alto-relievo, of half that size. The first is placed beneath a pointed arch, and the tablets 
 are inserted in the wall, to the right and left of the figure. The whole is executed in fine statuary 
 marble, and is calculated to perpetuate the memory of the deceased, the affection and liberality of 
 the worthy baronet, and the talents of the artist. The effect which the whole is calculated to produce 
 is of the most impressive, serious, and solemn tendency. Whilst the susceptible heart readily yields 
 homage to the sentiment here so forcibly expressed, the scientific head applauds the art and congra- 
 tulates the artist. 
 
 .1. B. 
 
TITANIA, PUCK, THE CHANGELING, ETC. 
 
 FROM SHAKESPEARE'S PLAY OF 
 
 " A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM." 
 
 PAINTED BY 
 
 GEORGE ROMNEY, ESQ. 
 
 IN THE POSSESSION OF 
 
 Sir 3Iobn jHeming Icicestcr, TBart. 
 
 That " A Midsummer Night's Dream," one of the most poetical productions of 
 Shakespeare's dramatic muse, should have arrested the attention, and become one 
 of the greatest favourites of Romney's poetical pencil, is not at all surprising-. 
 Besides two or three pictures, which that artist produced, he has left several 
 hundreds of sketches and studies illustrative of various scenes and incidents in 
 this fascinating drama. These are principally of the subject now under consi- 
 deration, and are in different stages of advancement : in some the general form 
 of the composition being scarcely discernible, whilst in others, not only the 
 drawing of the figures, but the intended effect of light and shade is clearly 
 denoted. Less solicitous to adhere, with scrupulous fidelity, to his author, than 
 to produce a work which should comprehend all the beauties of his own art, 
 it frequently happened that Romney united in himself the invention of the poet 
 with that which is the peculiar attribute of the painter. Of this remark the 
 picture of " Titania, Puck, and the Changeling-," affords an elucidation. It 
 has not been painted from any single scene of " A Midsummer Night's Dream ;" 
 but is the result of a profound consideration of the whole play, and is a select 
 assemblage of those images which, in the artist's judgment, could be combined 
 by his art with the happiest effect. 
 
8 
 
 PAINTING : TITANIA, PUCK, ETC. BY ROMNEY. 
 
 This picture is assuredly one of the most beautiful little works of the 
 English School. Titania, her protege, and Puck, are represented as sporting- 
 
 " on the beached margent of the sea;" 
 while the Elves, who 
 
 " serve the fairy queen, 
 
 " To dew her orbs upon the green," 
 
 are grouped at a respectful distance, and in the most fanciful manner, in the 
 back-ground. This composition is very simple, the parts being- large, and few 
 in number; the colouring is extremely warm, and brilliant; but the chief 
 excellence of the picture, and that which instantaneously enchants the spectator, 
 is the expression. Mr. Romney, although perfectly capable (as he has suffi- 
 ciently evinced) of characterizing- the severer passions, delighted in depicting- 
 the tender and inspiring. His pencil never seemed so successfully engaged, — 
 so completely to luxuriate,- — as when it was portraying- a beautiful female 
 countenance, " full of life, and light, and joy;" and the head of Titania is a 
 delicious proof of the painter's unrivalled skill in this respect. The waggery of 
 
 " that shrewd and knavish sprite 
 
 " Call'd Robin Goodfellow," 
 
 is also admirably displayed, employed as he is, in playfully attaching- a flowery- 
 fetter to the 
 
 " lovely boy, stolen from an Indian king." 
 
 There is a marked propriety in the introduction, among- the Elves, of a female 
 figure bearing- away an infant, and thus illustrating- a main incident on which 
 the drama of " A Midsummer Night's Dream" is founded. These elfish 
 personages are placed in the many coloured beams of the rainbow. 
 
 W. H. W. 
 
Designed and emcatoQ in Marl'lc 
 3 
 
 gnUtJ h> rht Mmon of M" 'llfard .tr htr IwlMi.in Jv tfturdt ,ir forty, fit tfts foully GtmNrkmL- 
 
 Tr Hf.siiY tftWABj) Ksq W'i. 
 
 hA Ait Ska A nuptfttUih- f/wrtf>ol 
 
A 
 
 MONUMENTAL GROUP: 
 
 DESIGNED, AND EXECUTED IN MARBLE, 
 
 JOSEPH NOLLEKENS, ESQ. R. A. 
 
 The liberal Arts are employed most suitably to their dignity when engaged in 
 the inculcation of some leading- principle of morality or religion : Statuary is 
 more particularly adapted to this important purpose, because from the simplicity 
 and sobriety of its nature it admits of nothing that is familiar, or that has a 
 mean tendency. The sculptured Memorial represented by the annexed print is 
 amongst the first of these elevated subjects. It is executed in a style adequate 
 to its importance, and has stamped a character on the talents of Mr. Nollekens 
 that makes the admirers of genius regret that he is engaged in little else besides 
 the portraiture of his Art. The inestimable advantages resulting from a well- 
 spent life, when the soul is about to make its terrestrial exit, is here displayed 
 in the dignified calmness of a dying saint, to whose sight, from which earthly 
 scenes are passing away, Religion is displaying the world of endless and 
 ineffable happiness. The majesty of virtue here shines most conspicuously above 
 the boastful importance of worldly grandeur and of shining talents, as that good 
 which alone survives with the soul the wreck of material nature. The Sculptor 
 has admirably designated this composure in the air of entire surrender to the 
 influence of Religion which pervades the dying frame as it reposes in her arms. 
 He has characterized its languor with equal felicity, and the undulating graces 
 of a beautifully proportioned form. The tenderness of maternal attachment is 
 pleasingly denoted by the parent's hand which gently reclines on the bosom of 
 
10 SCULPTURE : MONUMENTAL GROUP ; BY NOLLEKENS. 
 
 her infant ; but this attachment does not dissipate her attention to Religion. 
 Perhaps a little more breadth would have conferred a still greater portion of 
 grace and importance on the drapery, the elegant amplitude of which — an 
 amplitude so appropriate to the maternal delicacy and sanctity of the wearer, — 
 still exhibits the general gracefulness of the limbs it covers. Religion is justly 
 personified by a beautiful young female in matronly drapery. Her youth denotes 
 the graces, the cheerfulness, and active influence of true Religion ; her matronly 
 dress, the sobriety and purity of her character. The judicious Artist has avoided 
 the introduction of any emblem of a particular faith, as the Divine and bene- 
 ficent Parent of all men accepts the sincere homage of adoration and virtue 
 from all his children. She is lucidly designated by her sober drapery, her 
 soothing assiduity, and the Heaven-ward pointing of her hand. The whole 
 presents a group valuable to the Amateur for its brilliant display of the beauties 
 of Art, and to the Divine and the Moralist for the impressive lesson it inculcates 
 into the heart, of the beauty, the dignity, and everlasting- value of Virtue and 
 Religion. 
 
 R. H. 
 
 May, 1811. 
 
 The Monument above described is placed in the chancel of the Church at Corby, in the county of 
 Cumberland. On the pedestal is the following inscription, which at once characterizes the virtues of the 
 deceased, and the affection of the surviving: 
 
 " Into thy hands I commend my Spirit, for thou hast redeemed me, O Lord thou god oe 
 
 Truth!" 
 
 " Maria, the third daughter of Andrew, Lord Archer, was married to Henry Howard on the 
 22d of November, 1783; died, with her infant daughter, on the 9th of November, 1789, in the 
 twenty-third year of her age. This tribute of Sorrow is paid to the Memory of her who 
 approached near to perfection, by the afflicted Husband and Sisters." 
 
i lurr!' chat. nc. ykx. 14. 16. 1 
 
 &yta /■*■*/ /y W m 'Bond, Atom* ,/,JjfataA6 /y. Jlmiy Howard Xs^Ji . 1. J^wA*/ mi, Ms /tir^a/ . 4c<iMmy/. 
 
 llif I'll lis U >KXT j.vi> COUTTCIZ, and tht (ifflt KiWir<lll «r thrHoyuil ^iciltlmty. Dun Flair <m,t tftt rtf l f liMi> l 'Ir.wif'tii'it. art wAedfkfy iiijiTfhtrf 
 
THE 
 
 SIXTH ANGEL, ETC. 
 
 FROM 
 
 REVELATIONS, Chap. IX. Verses 14, IS. 
 
 PAINTED BY 
 
 HENRY HOWARD, ESQ. R. A. 
 
 " S "!li»g to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river 
 
 Euphrates. 
 
 " And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, 
 for to slay the third part of men." 
 
 Though the book of Revelations is admitted by the Church of England among 
 the Canonical Scriptures, yet many English divines doubt its sacred inspiration. 
 No person of taste can, however, question its being- inspired by a lofty imagi- 
 nation, for it contains descriptions as grand and awful as it is possible for the 
 human mind to conceive. Terror is here arrayed in the most magnificent and 
 appalling forms. Its instruments are the noblest of the brute inhabitants of the 
 earth, and man ; the elements and the planetary creation ; and reaching- beyond 
 materiality, it appears amidst infernal and celestial intelligences, and at the 
 summit of sublime existence, exhibits the Deity himself. On these accounts it 
 is peculiarly adapted to display the loftier powers of imagination in Painting, 
 and it was therefore appropriate for a Painter who possesses an elegant and 
 lively fancy, to select from it a subject as a specimen of his talents on being- 
 elected to the honour of Royal Academician Mr. Howard has chosen that 
 
 1 It is customary for every Artist, on being admitted a member of the Royal Academy, to present to 
 the Society a specimen of his works. Several of these, from Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, are 
 preserved in the Council Room of that Institution: and are publicly exhibited this year (1811) with the 
 works of living Artists. 
 
12 painting: — the sixth angel, etc. by Howard. 
 
 passage from the Revelations wherein the writer describes one of the six Angels 
 which stood before the Majesty of Heaven, executing a commission which is 
 uttered by a voice from the horns of the golden altar before God. The Angel 
 has just descended on sacred wings from the Divine throne, from which emanates 
 a celestial radiation. Nature, awe-struck, renders solemn homage to the hea- 
 venly emissary. Clouds roll in thick volumes of darkness; thunders peal in 
 awful response to the trumpet which he has just sounded ; forked lightnings 
 flash destruction ; and the " great river Euphrates," heaving high its tempes- 
 tuous billows, yawns from its inmost chambers, and yields up the four evil Angels 
 who had been imprisoned beneath the black waters. Their infuriate counte- 
 nances and action express the destructive malignity of their natures, and their 
 eagerness to be released from their watery imprisonment to indulge that malig- 
 nity in obeying the command of the Angel to " slay the third part of men." — 
 The strong lights, and a large proportion of deep shadows, produce a just 
 solemnity of tone, and, in conjunction with the vigorous action and expression 
 of the supernatural Agents, kindle in the breast of the spectator feelings corre- 
 spondent to the enthusiasm which animated the Painter. 
 
 It. H. 
 
 May, 1811. 
 
REMARKS ON THE PICTURE 
 
 EARL OF AKGYLE IN PRISON: 
 
 PAINTED BY 
 
 JAMES NORTHCOTE, ESQ. R. A. 
 
 RIGHT HON. EARL GREY. 
 
 The following- letter of animadversions on this picture, the subject, and on 
 certain points relating- to the Fine Arts, has been addressed by Mr. Hoare to 
 the painter, and is now published, as an appropriate dissertation to accompany 
 the annexed print. The learned and elegant writer is already well known to 
 all the true lovers of the Fine Arts and literature of this country ; and the 
 present essay will certainly not detract from the fame which he has justly 
 acquired ; but a perusal of it will make us wish that his leisure and health may 
 enable him to prosecute those useful and interesting lucubrations which have 
 already appeared in the " Academic Annals;" " The Artist;" and " An Inquiry 
 into the Arts of Design," &c. 
 
 To JAMES NORTHCOTE, Esq. R. A. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 Mr. Britton has requested of me my opinion of your picture of the Earl 
 of Argyle ; and I am inclined to accede to his request, from a sense of respect, 
 which I entertain for his truly patriotic effort, to establish a regular publication 
 of engravings from the most approved works of our own school. That I may 
 deliver my sentiments on the occasion fairly, without excess of censure or 
 
 D 
 
L4 
 
 PAINTING : THE EARL OF ARGYLL. 
 
 indulgence of partiality, I shall place you in my view and address myself to you, 
 as you are the severest judge, both of yourself and others, that I have ever met 
 with. I am not afraid to tell you that I admire your picture, or that, for our 
 long and still unbroken intimacy, I am glad that you are the painter of it; but 
 I shall endeavour to olfer you such a judgment of it, as the candid criticism of 
 others, as well as myself, may be found likely to confirm. 
 
 I doubt whether your picture of the Earl of Argyle is to be regarded as 
 strictly historical ; it being founded on a traditional anecdote only, related by 
 Mr. Fox, in his History of James II l . But taking the circumstances there 
 related (real or imaginary) as the groundwork of your picture, I find nothing 
 in it dissonant from the spirit of the writer, but, on the contrary, much to 
 heighten the effect of the narrative. 
 
 Your picture is not of an epic nature : it does not show history either under 
 an enlargement of character, or by a condensation of facts ; it represents a 
 single moment, a single action. One of the members of the council, by which 
 the earl had been condemned to suiFer death, has half entered the door, opened 
 by the keeper of the apartment; and his looks are directed to the object of his 
 hate and envy. He finds him sleeping; and feels the superiority of a mind, 
 impressed with the consciousness of its own rectitude. The expression, which 
 you have given to his countenance, makes the subsequent relation of the 
 historian easily credible '-. These points, you, as a master of the art which you 
 
 1 The earl was condemned to be executed at Edinburgh, June the 30th, 1685. " He writes, 
 on the day of his execution, to his wife and some other relations, for whom he seems to have 
 entertained a sort of parental tenderness, short, but the most affectionate letters, wherein he gives 
 them the greatest satisfaction then in his power, by assuring them of his composure and tranquillity 
 
 of mind. After dinner he retired, as was his custom, to his bedchamber, where, it is recorded, 
 
 that he slept quietly for about a quarter of an hour. While he was in bed, one of the members 
 of the council came, and intimated to the attendants a desire to speak with him: upon being told 
 that the earl was asleep, and had left orders not to be disturbed, the manager disbelieved the 
 account, which he considered as a device to avoid further questions. To satisfy him the door of 
 the bedchamber was half opened, and he then beheld, enjoying a sweet and tranquil slumber, the 
 man, who, by the doom of him and his fellows, was to die within the space of two short hours! 
 
 2 Struck with the sight, he hurried out of the room, quitted the castle with the utmost preci- 
 pitation, and hid himself in the lodgings of an acquaintance, who lived near, where he flung himself 
 upon the first bed that presented itself, and had every appearance of a man suffering the most 
 excruciating torture." (Page 208.) 
 
PAINTING : THE EARL OF ARGYLE. 
 
 I 5 
 
 profess, accomplished with ease. But your art laboured under a difficulty of 
 explaining, that the tranquil slumberer was on the eve of " expiating- his 
 virtues" on the scaffold. You have, by a stretch of graphic licence, — or shall 
 I say, by a right of graphic imagery,— -introduced, at the head of Argyle's bed, 
 a man resting his hand on the fatal axe,- — the executioner awaiting the hour 
 of his duty. In this you certainly deviate from historic accuracy, but you 
 render your work intelligible ; and this stands, I conceive, among the licences 
 which, when modestly assumed, as Horace expresses it, seldom fail to be 
 agreeable. 
 
 Were I to consider the composition of your picture as strictly historical, I 
 should blame it as more crowded together, than nature could have shown it 
 to you on the occasion ; and the insolent visitor, as pressing too close on the 
 bed of the prisoner. But your object is the poetic, and not (if I may say so) 
 the historic representation of history; and to this intent, the circumstance of 
 composition, which I should otherwise blame, very aptly combines. The sudden 
 effect, produced on the disappointed intruder, is strengthened by his almost 
 touching the object, which subdues him. In this, also, your story gains force 
 and intelligibility; and this licence very consistently unites with the former 
 one, which I have mentioned above. 
 
 Your Argyle, and your Gaoler, are the portraits of nature, as she is seen 
 by an observing and experienced eye. Though " seldom, when 
 
 The steeled gaoler is the friend of men," 
 
 the case of Argyle was not only such as was likely to induce compassion in 
 minds of an ordinary class, but, as we know from history, did actually produce 
 it. Witness the tears, which he himself describes to have been shed, by those 
 who took him, and would have let him escape if they had dared. (Fox's 
 History, page 194.) The compassion, therefore, which your Gaoler expresses, 
 is strictly appropriate to your subject : in unison at once with nature and with 
 truth. The tranquillity of Argyle's sleep needs no argument to prove the 
 justness of your representation. So far, then, as to composition. 
 
 In colour, and in chiaro scuro, or effect, I see much to commend in your 
 picture, and something to censure : the effect only is perceptible in an engraving, 
 
16 painting: — the earl of argyle. 
 
 and that is the more indisputably successful of the two. But leaving- the 
 discussion of its technical merits to those who alone are competent judges of 
 them, I mean professional men like yourself, I shall continue to examine the 
 character of your performance, in points, of which I conceive that an unprofes- 
 sional man is capable of being as sound a judge as the most skilful professor; 
 only premising - , that I wave all examination of your hero in a political light, 
 and that, in this point, I take the same authority for my rule of criticism, that 
 you have taken for your invention, namely, the tradition related by Mr. Fox ; 
 on which I assume Argyle to be an innocent man. On these premises stands all 
 that I am going- to add. 
 
 Your picture possesses one of the highest merits of painting, regarded as 
 an art addressing itself to the mind. It tells its own story, offers its own moral. 
 If we look at it, without imagining- it to refer to any particular fact of 
 history, and without making any inquiry who are the characters represented, 
 it shows innocence and repose on one part; surprise, disappointment, and 
 remorse on the other. It is evident that it represents a man, stirred with self- 
 tormenting- passions at sight of the quiet slumber of another, whose posture is 
 that of contented ease, and whose countenance is unruffled, even though the 
 fatal axe is near his head, and the preparations of justice within view of his 
 dungeon. Thus far the expression of the picture is obvious, even to the most 
 uninformed ; and curiosity, if I am not mistaken, here begins to awake in the 
 spectator. We desire to learn the events, which have been the causes of such 
 a contrasted exhibition of the passions and affections of the soul. The most 
 ordinary observer of nature's workings will then trace, in the physiognomy of 
 the sleeping- prisoner, that placid habit of all the features, which never fails to 
 indicate an amiable and unoffending disposition ; and he will be reminded of 
 the inefficacy of power and injury to afflict their victim, when that victim is 
 supported by a consciousness of integrity. 
 
 But the curious inquirer will go farther; he asks the names, the fact. The 
 former, as far as any record has handed them down, the painter's art can supply. 
 By a letter on the bed of the prisoner, he discovers that it is the Earl of 
 Argyle, who is so tranquilly asleep in the sight of his agitated visitor; and 
 history, or tradition, has already acquainted him of the events, which distin- 
 guished the fall of that unfortunate nobleman. His satisfaction, therefore, in 
 
PAINTING : THE EARL OF ARGYLE. 
 
 17 
 
 that point, is completed. The name of the other principal character is unknown 
 to history. The painter therefore makes him one of a class : his robe denotes 
 his rank. 
 
 In this picture, you have, as I think, given a proof how far moral instruction 
 may be unequivocally conveyed, and historical reference substantiated, by 
 painting-. The lesson, which your work conveys, is addressed alike to the 
 learned and the unlearned ; and the effect which it produces, is satisfactory to 
 the one, and beneficial to the other. 
 
 The invention of your picture is properly that of a painter. You do not 
 desire to refer the spectator to lines of poetry, or figurative passages of history, 
 as a primary necessity, in order to explain the merits of your figures, or the 
 reason of their actions. You have made a particular fact become the organ of 
 a general sentiment ; and, like the poet, without deviating' from the general 
 train of historical probability and truth, you have rendered history in some 
 measure subservient to your own feelings. You have chosen your own moment, 
 impressed your own view of the event; and, in short, agreeably to your own 
 precepts in one of your papers in " The Artist," have contemplated nature at 
 first hand. Your picture, in this instance, cannot fail to remain an example of 
 a just application of the peculiar powers of the pencil; and (if conjecture may 
 be formed of what is yet to come,) whatever may be the future expansion of 
 English art, your present work will be considered as one of those, which are 
 calculated to form and strengthen a school of painting. 
 
 But there is another point, on which my partiality for my own country, no 
 less than for yourself, makes me desirous of adding a few words. I have much 
 to say, in common with the public voice, in praise of your professional skill ; 
 but I conceive y ou in nothing more deserving, than in the general scope of your 
 historical works, which, at the same time that they are by no means deficient in 
 poetic imagery, yet divest fancy of caprice, and bespeak an attempered and 
 reflecting judgment. It is by such methods as you have pursued in the picture 
 of the Earl of Argyle, that the ability and character of a philosophical nation 
 is likely to unfold itself in the Fine Arts; and it is, in my estimation, the 
 greatest praise which I can give you, that, although versed in the skill of other 
 schools, you may be said to hare painted in English. For it appears to me, that 
 
 E 
 
IS 
 
 PAINTING : THE EARL OF ARGYLE. 
 
 it is not by relinquishing, but by diligently cultivating and refining the national 
 tendencies, that original character is finally established in schools of art. 
 
 It is neither by the abandonment of our national taste and humour, from 
 devoted respect to the local excellences of other schools, (as too many of our 
 dilettanti, and even sometimes of our artists, have persuaded themselves ;) neither 
 is it, on the other part, by a vain and ostentatious arrogance of superiority in 
 our rude modes of feeling, (of which it might be invidious to quote examples 
 in a rival school,) that any art can be essentially advanced. A too servile, or 
 too submissive imitation, on the one hand, prevents the growth of natural 
 strength and improvement, and an infectious self-conceit, on the other, is 
 followed, as in all things, by imbecility. 
 
 National feeling is to be regarded as a natural ground, on which the Fine 
 Arts are to rise to eminence. Its soil, its disposition, its atmosphere is to be 
 studied. It may be found ameliorated by culture, drained or enriched, as its 
 quality may demand ; but its essence remains. In its most improved state, it is 
 to become the support of the edifice, which we strive to raise on it. That 
 edifice, may be embellished with all that research and study can bring to its 
 decoration ; but, if it hopes for stability and duration, it must never be discordant 
 from the genius of the soil. 
 
 It is for these reasons, Dear Sir, that, if the partiality of long acquaintance 
 and friendship does not lead me too far, I conceive that the work now before 
 me, will entitle its author, not more to the respect of the present day, than to 
 the applause of posterity, as assisting the foundation of an English Sc/iool of 
 the Fine Arts. 
 
 I am, Dear Sir, &c. 
 
 P. HO A RE. 
 
 DEC. 1811. 
 
 END OF THE ESSAY. 
 
POPE'S VILLA, 
 
 A LANDSCAPE; 
 
 PAINTED BY 
 
 J. W. M. TURNER, ESQ. R. A. 
 
 IN THE COLLECTION OF 
 
 ©it 3lofjn Iteming leiccstcc, IBatt. 
 
 In contemplating- the picture of " Pope's Villa," the mind is alternately 
 soothed and distressed, delighted and provoked. The most pleasurable 
 sensations are awakened by the taste and skill of the painter; and we view the 
 residence of the Twickenham Bard with revived emotions of that delight, 
 which the first perusal of his immortal strains excited, and which the contem- 
 plation of any object connected with his memory is calculated to bring to our 
 recollection. This once sacred spot, however, is now desecrated : the dwelling 
 of the poet has been levelled to the ground, and his favourite haunts have 
 been despoiled of their local charms. Pope's Villa, like that of Maecenas, in 
 the vicinity of Rome, has been indiscreetly destroyed ; and the peculiarities of 
 both will be recorded only in the annals of literature, and their architectural 
 characteristics on the canvas and on the copper. Wilson has rendered the 
 ruins of one familiar to our minds by an exquisite little picture ; and Turner 
 has taken a portrait of the other at the time of its dissolution. A most memo- 
 rable crisis ! for had the artist then neglected to sketch its features, he would 
 in vain have attempted the task after the extermination had been effected; 
 and however vivid his imagination, he could not have recalled the identity and 
 positive features of the scene so truly and satisfactorily as now displayed. Such 
 is the important use, such are the fascinating charms of the pencil ; directed by 
 the powerful mind of Turner, and guided by his masterly hand, it has presented 
 us a picture replete with beauty, sentiment, and sweetness. To harmony of 
 colouring, and appropriate composition, is united the well-timed accessory of 
 pastoral simplicity, rendered sweeter by the serenity of evening. All the parts 
 are in unison, and all tend to produce one sentiment ; but that sentiment is of 
 
20 
 
 PAINTING : POPE'S VILLA. 
 
 a mixed, almost incongruous character: it may be defined a pleasing sorrow, a 
 pensive delight, a melancholy pleasure. In short, while the eye is delighted by 
 the tone and execution of the picture, the mind is imperceptibly led to analyze 
 its component parts, and in this process, the poetic fancy and consummate skill 
 of the painter are forcibly manifested. The half destroyed house is the central 
 object in his composition : this is partially lighted by the rays of the setting 
 sun, which also tinge the edges of the clouds, the tops of some distant buildings, 
 the sheep, and a few points on the foreground. Perfectly in unison with the 
 declining sun, and the dilapidated Villa, are the trees, plants, and figures : for 
 the vegetable world displays the autumnal hues, or eve of nature, whilst the 
 animals and human figures indicate the time of repose and calm meditation. 
 Groups of sheep are reclining in their pasture ; two fishermen are gently 
 arranging their eel-pots ; and on the left hand of the picture is introduced an 
 interesting episode, consisting of a group of three figures, apparently labourers 
 retiring from the ruined house, and animadverting- on fragments of its deco- 
 ration : attentive to whose " rustic tale of lamentation" are a young man and 
 woman ; and, in strict accordance with the subject, is the prostrate trunk of a 
 willow tree. Thus every part of the composition is useful and apposite, and the 
 whole conspires to consecrate the scene where Pope tuned his mellifluous and 
 sonorous lyre. In contemplating this impressive picture, who but will recollect 
 the simple inscription over the poet's grotto ; who but will apply it as an apt 
 epitaph on the ruin ; and gazing, like the passing stranger over the grave of 
 Yorick, exclaim, " Here Pope Sung J" Dodsley, in the following lines, addressed 
 to the poet, thus anticipates the fate of this place. 
 
 " On Thames' bank the stranger shall arrive 
 With curious wish thy sacred Grot to see: 
 Thy sacred grot shall with thy name survive. — 
 Grateful posterity from age to age 
 With pious hand thy ruin shall repair: 
 Some good old man, to each inquiring sage 
 Pointing the place, shall cry, — ' the bard lived there.' 
 
 Then some small gem, or moss, or shining ore, 
 
 Departing, each shall pilfer, in fond hope 
 
 To please their friends on every distant shore; 
 
 Boasting a relic from the Cave of Pope." 
 
 DEC. 1811. 
 
 J. B. 
 
THETIS AND ACHILLES. 
 
 BENJAMIN WEST, Esq. p. r. a. 
 
 AND HISTORICAL PAINTER TO HIS MAJESTY, 
 
 FOR 
 
 THOMAS HOPE, Esq. 
 
 It is the province of the Poet to invent and describe, whilst the art of the 
 Painter consists in representing- and imbodying either the creations of his own 
 fancy, or such images as are suggested by external objects and descriptive 
 language. But from whatever source his subject be supplied, the historical 
 painter, particularly, is required to possess a poetical imagination, or his produc- 
 tions will be tame and uninteresting-. He must nobly aspire to develope the 
 spirit, as well as the substance of ancient history. Hence the Cartoons of 
 RafFaelle are not simply representations of the peculiar incidents and personages 
 described in the sacred writings, but every picture is a comprehensive illustra- 
 tion of the text, and of such collateral passages as are connected with the 
 times, the persons, and the events. A few sparks of descriptive information 
 are thus made to illuminate a broad space of canvass. In the much admired 
 picture of " Death on the Pale Horse," by West, a great portion of this poetical 
 feeling is evinced: for it teems with fancy; and though the writer furnished 
 only a few verbal hints, yet these suggested, to the painter, forms, incidents 
 and combinations which he has imbodied, and fixed on the expressive canvass. 
 In many other pictures from the sacred writings, and in the more familiar, 
 but equally interesting- subjects from English history, the veteran President of 
 the Royal Academy has manifested a skilful and discriminating- pencil. With 
 a laudable and meritorious zeal for truth and propriety, he has treated historical 
 painting in a truly historical style ; and thus formed a new epocli that will even- 
 tually be marked with distinguished approbation in the annals of English art. 
 
 In the year 1805 this artist was commissioned, by Mr. Thomas Hope, that 
 true patron of literature and the fine arts, to paint a large picture of Achilles 
 
 F 
 
IS 
 
 PAINTING: ACHILLES, ETC. BY WEST. 
 
 and Thetis. On perusing the glowing and animated strains of Homer, the 
 painter was tempted to make various sketches illustrative of the Iliad : from a 
 passage in the nineteenth book of which, the picture here referred to is com- 
 posed. It represents three of the principal personages of that grand heroic 
 poem : Achilles, Thetis, and Patroclus. The first is the hero of the poet, and 
 the painter has also rendered him the prominent object of his picture. As the 
 Grecian bard made the anger of Achilles the subject of his poem, so the artist 
 has shewn it as the paramount expression of his principal figure. Deprived of 
 the lovely Briseis, the hero meditates revenge, and his magnanimous ambition 
 thirsts for military glory. The Trojans having slain Patroclus, the much loved 
 friend of Achilles, the latter is then wrought up to the highest pitch of inexo- 
 rable revenge. 
 
 " In his black thoughts revenge and slaughter roll, 
 And scenes of blood rise dreadful in his soul." 
 
 At one moment he is absorbed in grief, at another roused to the utmost degree of 
 rage and inveterate anger. In this frame of mind he is discovered by his 
 Goddess-Mother, Thetis, who brings him a suit of impenetrable armour; and 
 whilst he is hanging over the corpse of Patroclus, she exclaims, 
 
 " Behold what Arms by Vulcan are bestow'd, 
 Arms worthy thee, or fit to grace a god. 
 Unmov'd, the hero kindles at the show, 
 And feels with rage divine his bosom glow: 
 From his fierce eye-balls living flames expire, 
 And flash incessant like a stream of fire." 
 
 In the composition and expression of this picture, it must be admitted that the 
 artist has successfully imbodied the imaginary forms of the poet. Enough of 
 the figure of Patroclus is shewn to explain the story: and Achilles, whose mantle 
 is drawn over his head in sign of grief, appears to be partly attentive to the 
 language of Thetis, partly attached, even after death, to his friend, and partly 
 engaged in meditating revenge. The celebrated shield, the helmet, and other 
 military armour are designed and drawn with scrupulous regard to the best 
 specimens of Grecian costume. 
 
 J. B. 
 
AN ALTO-RELIEVO : 
 
 DESIGNED AND EXECUTED IN MARBLE 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN FLAXMAN, Esq. r.a. 
 
 THE SUBJECT, 
 
 " DELIVER US FROM EVIL." 
 
 " All the Grecian Sculpture," observes Mr. Flaxman, " was arranged in three 
 classes : the Group of Figures ; the Single Statue ; and the Alto, or Basso- 
 Relievo. The two first were suited to all insular situations, and the latter to fill 
 panels in walls. These classes not only serve all architectural purposes, but 
 adorn, harmonize, and finish its forms V An example of the latter kind is the 
 subject represented in the annexed Print : it is designed from the laconic, but 
 energetic passage in " the Lord's Prayer," of " Deliver us from Evil." To a 
 common mind these words would scarcely excite a positive image ; to an enthu- 
 siast the passage might suggest visions of darkness, terror and Tartarian flames ; 
 but the classically chaste fancy of the sculptor has conceived a subject from it, 
 and given to " airy nothing" a locality and form, at once explicit and intelli- 
 gible. Moral evil is depicted by two monstrous figures, emblematic of sensuality 
 and malice; whilst a coiled serpent is displayed as symbolical of the scrip- 
 tural introduction of sin and death. A human being is shewn in the act of 
 struggling with these foes to virtue and happiness : and conformably to Christian 
 belief, — that the interposition of Omnipotence is necessary to elfect Salvation, 
 the artist has typified this idea in the benign assistance of two Angelic forms. 
 One of these is repelling the disgusting figure of sensuality ; whilst the other 
 employs its gentle, but confident efforts to release the oppressed object from the 
 heart-rending fangs of malice. The varied expression, contrasted characters, 
 and picturesque disposition of the five figures are demonstrative of peculiar 
 1 " The Artist, a Collection of Essays." No. 12. 
 
'20 
 
 sculpture: — alto-relievo; by flaxman. 
 
 science and taste. Indeed it may be confidently and truly asserted, that since 
 the days of Michael Ang-elo, no artist has produced a piece of sculpture 
 surpassing- this in invention, composition, and approjjriate expression. If we 
 compare the present design with the general examples of Monumental Sculp- 
 ture, we shall be better enabled to appreciate its relative and individual merit : 
 for in this, there is nothing common-place, vulgar, trite, or puerile : it is the 
 invention of Genius, and the execution of superior Art. 
 
 Every work of man that is truly admirable, must emanate from original 
 Genius; for though instruction and industry may advance the human mind to 
 comparative eminence, yet they will never exalt it much above mediocrity. 
 Whenever the three are united, that dignified superiority of talent is produced 
 which leads to all that is great and glorious in Literature, Art, and Science. 
 Endowed with this faculty of soul, Homer and Raffaelle, Shakspeare and 
 Reynolds have immortalized their own names, conferred honour on their respec- 
 tive countries, and ennobled the human character. Michael Angelo and Milton 
 may also be properly classed with stars of the first magnitude in the hemisphere 
 of Genius: in the primary constellation of which, a few others, of varied dimen- 
 sion, but real splendour, may be easily traced and identified. 
 
 " The Star of Genius must the light impart 
 That leads us to the promised land of Art 2 ." 
 
 " The Christian religion," says Mr. Flaxman, " presents personages and 
 subjects no less favourable to painting and sculpture than the ancient classics." 
 To exemplify this remark, the artist has made a series of designs from " the 
 Lord's Prayer," calculated to illustrate every sentence and passage in that sacred 
 petition. Sir Francis Baring, a liberal promoter of the Fine Arts, has chosen 
 three of the subjects to be executed in sculpture as a family monument. One 
 of these is represented in the annexed Print; and the other two will be given 
 in a subsequent part of this work, with a more particular account of the whole. 
 
 2 Slice's " Elements of Art." Canto I. 
 
 J. B. 
 
REMARKS ON THE 
 
 STATUE OF A FALLING GIANT: 
 
 DESIGNED, AND EXECUTED IN MARBLE, 
 
 THOMAS BANKS, ESQ. R. A. 
 
 Among the vast number of ancient statues that have been preserved, most of 
 them are represented in fixed, inactive positions ; either standing erect, seated, 
 or supine. " It must be confessed," observes Sir Joshua Reynolds, — Disc. vm. 
 — " of the many thousand antique statues which we have, that their general 
 characteristic is bordering-, at least, on inanimate insipidity." The Egyptians 
 and early Greeks, it is concluded, never designed their statues in apparent 
 action. Hence their artists were enabled to work immediately from nature, to 
 have a living model before them: and thus their works, at best, were but 
 successful copies of still-life. A correct eye and careful hand were the only 
 powers requisite ; as neither imagination, genius, nor taste were demanded in 
 such performances. The Greek sculptors, in the best era of art, attempted to 
 give animation, expression, and action to some single figures and to groups : the 
 basso-relievos, from the Temple of Minerva at Athens, the Dying Gladiator, the 
 Wrestlers, the Niobe, and the Laocoon, are so many examples of their eminent 
 talents. These are, however, rare and extraordinary efforts of art ; and we may 
 conclude were the works of highly cultivated minds, in an age of learning-, 
 science, and glory. Besides, they are consecrated by age, and almost as much 
 deified now by critical panegyric as formerly by enthusiasm and superstition. If 
 the performance of an English sculptor be depreciated by a comparison with 
 those of the ancients, let us not be too fastidious and severe : in judging the 
 
 F 
 
22 
 
 SCULPTURE : A FALLING GIANT. 
 
 artist let us impartially reflect on the advantages and disadvantages of his own 
 peculiar situation in life, and of the age in which he lived. 
 
 Thomas Banks was not early initiated in the principles or practice of his art : 
 he was apprenticed to a carver in wood for seven years ; and during this servitude 
 he voluntarily studied modelling as an amusement, and as a process more 
 congenial to his disposition and feelings than cutting wood. Some of his models 
 were exhibited at the " Society of Arts," and obtained premiums. Stimulated 
 by this success, he next submitted his works to the " Royal Academy," and 
 fortunately obtained the gold medal of that institution in 1770. Two years 
 afterwards, he was sent to Rome, and his expenses defrayed there for three years ; 
 but he remained abroad seven years. His progress in art was rapid, and his 
 science and taste were so manifest, on his return, that he was elected an associate, 
 and afterwards a member of the Royal Academy. On this occasion he presented, 
 to that body, the statue of the Falling Gianl. The merit and originality of this 
 figure exalted the sculptor above his competitors, as it evinced powerful genius 
 and high professional talent. The design was poetical and daring'; but the 
 execution proved him competent to the task he had voluntarily engaged in. 
 In form, expression, anatomical accuracy, and adaptation, this statue approaches 
 perfection : it is one of those works of art, that in a small compass, and with 
 simplicity of parts, may be called sublime. The mind of the spectator is imper- 
 ceptibly hurried away from the object to the subject, from the marble personi- 
 fication of a human figure to the poetical tales of the ancients, from a small 
 statue to the imaginary display of super-human power and gigantic mightiness. 
 One of the heroes of a class of giants, or Titans, who had waged war against 
 the gods, is shown in the act of falling; as having just received a mortal stroke 
 from Jove : but in the moment of death, and with the last struggles of a 
 convulsed frame, he pulls the rocks upon himself. 
 
 To appreciate the design of this statue, we must refer to the poems of Hesiod 
 and Ovid, and to other ancient writers ; and admitting their fables to be worthy 
 the illustrations of an English artist, endeavour to ascertain how far Banks' work 
 fulfils the demands of the impartial and discriminating' critic. In execution, it 
 is allowed that he has been eminently successful. It is placed in the council- 
 room of the Royal Academy. 
 
 Dec. 1811. J- B. 
 
'Emm a® •STJk<&m, 
 
 A 1ASD a CAFE . 
 
 d3l^ta>t*ed /y- JOITN~ SCOTT, 'j4vm- a-^Stj&tAe, /y XHOf GAIN SB OJiOTTliK, #«• Qpa/bbto, 0^ 
 
 Sllffi J OJHEFT IF IL EMI IT Q lllCKSTKR, JSAlT 
 
 To SIR ABRAHAM lUTM*: Bart MY. a liberal eruvurtiga- or '/At. Fmt • Jrte ofhia native Gauntry, this Piatt; tite n/ivmpanyuui Mssay. are 
 
 respectfully wsrribtd. by the EJtt.-r 
 
 '..<n,l,<n !\il>hsKnl i ' !/,■ : ,*•■.': A: L,;,f!:i,iti <■ < ' I'.itrm.-.-rfrr h'.-a ■• J /Ui !.-r 'Irjli ij.-l/- ™ 
 
THE COTTAGE DOOR, 
 
 A LANDSCAPE! 
 
 BY 
 
 THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH, ESQ. R.A. 
 
 IN THE GALLERY OF 
 
 ©it 3Io6n JFIemins Leicester, TSatt, 
 
 The author of this picture was unquestionably a man of genius and talent : his 
 best painting's, in portrait and landscape, will fully justify this assertion. Those 
 of the latter class plainly indicate that he sought for originality in the right 
 place, by sedulously studying nature. Indeed he may be appositely denominated 
 ' the pupil of nature :' for she was his first, his best, and chief preceptor. If ever 
 a human being was born with original, or natural genius,— -an innate propensity 
 to a particular art, — it was Thomas Gainsborough ; for without instruction, or 
 any excitement from associations, (at least we do not hear of such,) he became 
 an artist in infancy. When a child, it is related, that he manifested a predi- 
 lection for picturesque scenery, by sketching a group of trees the first time he 
 handled a pencil. Fascinated with the effect of this juvenile essay, he prosecuted 
 his studies with unwearied perseverance, and obtained great facility in the art 
 of sketching from nature. Cattle, groups of rustic figures, rocks, and trees, 
 were the chief objects of his imitation ; because these were the only models or 
 lessons he had the advantage of seeing. Thus early associations make an 
 indelible, but imperceptible impression on the young mind ; and Gainsborough's 
 was as plastic as the art he ultimately pursued. He was born at Sudbury, in 
 Suffolk, in 1727. About the age of twelve he visited London, where he obtained 
 some lessons from Gravelot, an engraver, and from P. Hayman. During his stay 
 in the metropolis he married, and then retired to Ipswich, where he rented a 
 
24 PAINTING : THE COTTAGE DOOR. 
 
 house at six pounds a year. Among- the productions of this time was a painting 
 of Languard-Fort, which was engraved by Major. In 1758 he removed to 
 Bath, where he engaged lodgings at fifty pounds a year; and painted heads at 
 five guineas each. His talents were soon known and appreciated : from five 
 g-uineas, his prices were advanced to forty, for a half length, and one hundred, 
 for a full length. He removed, in 1774, to the metropolis, and rented a house 
 in Pall Mall, at three hundred pounds a year. His painting- room was now 
 frequented by royal and illustrious personag-es, and fame and fortune were at his 
 command. The first he obtained and secured, but was not equally solicitous 
 about the latter. He died in the sixty-first year of his age, A.D. 1788. 
 
 The works of Gainsborough may be ranged in three different classes, or 
 branches of the art, viz. portraits, groups of figures, and landscapes. The latter, 
 however, are his chef-d'ceuvres ; and the best specimens of these prove him to be 
 a genuine English artist. They have a decided national character; and will 
 never be mistaken for the landscapes of Wynants, Hobbima, Ruysdael, or 
 Poussin. In some of his early works, he appears to have imitated the style and 
 pencilling of the three former artists ; but latterly his pictures are strictly original 
 in composition, colouring, and handling. Such is the Cottage Door: a landscape 
 of peculiar force, harmony, and sweetness of tone. It has the true character 
 of pastoral simplicity ; but, like the eclogues of the poets, it heightens and 
 exaggerates natural objects : the female figure is rather more Arcadian than 
 English, and the colouring- and effect are more imaginary than real. Nature 
 never presented such a scene ; but all the forms and colours have their archetypes 
 in trees, ground, water, human figures, &c. The picture may be said to be as 
 strictly poetical as Thomson's Seasons ; and, like that exquisite poem, is calcu- 
 lated to delight every person who studies it attentively and feelingly. Its late 
 proprietor justly says, that ' it possesses all the rich colouring- of Rubens; the 
 thinness, yet force and brilliancy of Vandyck ; the silvery tone of Teniers ; the 
 depth and simplicity of Ruysdael; and the apparent finishing of Wynants.' 
 This picture was purchased by T. Harvey, Esq. of Catton, Norfolk, in 17S6, and 
 sold to Mr. Coppin, of Norwich, in 1807 ; in whose possession I then saw it, and 
 recommended it to Sir John Leicester. This worthy baronet, as Mr. Coppin 
 observes, ' cheerfully purchased it at a most liberal price.' 
 
 Dec. 1811. "J- B. 
 
JZrtC&d to th/Mftnory of ~*'UJJAM HviOiAY KARI. «f' MAN.-'FJl^Z' mWtstmmstirjhbty ■ tTuirch 
 
A MONUMENTAL GROUP: 
 
 DESIGNED, AND EXECUTED IN MARBLE, 
 
 EY 
 
 JOHN FLAXMAN, ESQ. R. A. 
 
 AND PROFESSOR OF SCULPTURE IN THE ROYAL ACADEMY. 
 ERECTED 
 
 TO THE MEMORY OF WILLIAM, EARL OF MANSFIELD, 
 
 IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY-CHURCH. 
 
 Grandeur of form, and appropriation of parts, are the visible characteristics of 
 this original monument. It is distinguished amidst a heterogeneous assemblage 
 of marble tombs, for its novelty of design, dignified expression, skilful execution, 
 and sublimity of character. Simple without tameness, grand without pomposity, 
 and expressive, but free from theatrical exaggeration, it cannot fail to arrest the 
 attention, and in a great measure satisfy the judgment of the best critics. 
 The deceased being great and illustrious as a statesman, a judge, and a nobleman 
 of high rank, it was the duty of the artist to characterize these circumstances 
 in his monument: Mr. Flaxman has therefore employed the aids of emblem, 
 attribute, and insignia, the language of his art, for this purpose. In the centre 
 of a group, and elevated above the whole, is a statue of the judge in his official 
 robes, and seated in an ancient curule chair. His head is executed from the 
 admirable portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and is a dignified likeness of the 
 revered nobleman in an advanced stage of life ; the chair rests on a circular 
 pedestal, which is surrounded by three statues, allegorical of Justice, Wisdom, 
 and Death. The latter figure, unlike the generality of such emblems, is neither 
 
 o 
 
26 SCULPTURE : A MONUMENTAL GROUP. 
 
 a disgusting' marble skeleton, nor a chubby boy, with a torch; but is the 
 personification of a youth reclining in a pensive attitude, with his head resting 
 between his arms, one of which is thrown over it, whilst the other supports it. 
 At his feet is the inverted, extinguished torch, and on each side is a funeral altar. 
 This figure, and its accompaniments, arc appropriately placed in the rear; 
 whilst the Judge is supported, on the right and left hand, by statues of Justice 
 and Wisdom. 
 
 From an ingenious essay on " National Monuments," in the Monthly Maga- 
 zine for January, 1806, I borrow a few remarks. In compositions of this sort, 
 " a single figure is not sufficient ; we require a group to give mass and dignity 
 to the monument ; symbols to explain the motives of its erection, the professions 
 and actions of the object : besides that a portrait statue is an ungrateful subject 
 to the artist. The allegory should be clear and simple ; a fable which strikes at 
 a glance, not an enigma to be decyphered ; uniting the figures in one constant 
 action, and concentrating the interest around the hero. It is a very common 
 fault in the employment of allegoric figures in conjunction with others, that 
 their action has no connection with that of the rest of the group. Of this 
 defect numberless instances might be adduced ; but I pass over the productions 
 of ordinary masters, where this is but one of a thousand objects of censure, to 
 criticise a work of genius, where we overlook nothing. I mean the monument 
 to Lord Mansfield by that distinguished artist Mr. Flaxman ; a monument 
 which, for the form of the mass, the grandeur and beauty of the figures, is 
 perhaps unequalled in this country. Here Justice is engaged in weighing, and 
 Law in reading, without paying any attention to the sage who is seated in his 
 curule chair, with a dignity worthy of Greece or Rome." This monument 
 was erected in 1780, in pursuance of a commission from the present Earl of 
 Mansfield. It is executed in fine statuary marble, and cost ^?2500. On 
 the pedestal is a long inscription \ detailing the chief events of the nobleman's 
 life whose memory it commemorates. 
 
 Feb. 1812. J- 
 
 i Alexander Baillie, Esq. who had obtained a large, disputed property, by the professional abilities 
 of Lord Mansfield, bequeathed £1500 towards a monument to be erected to his memory: and also 
 a certain sum, to be given for the best inscription to be recorded on the same. — See Holliday's 
 " Life of William, late Karl of Mansfield," 4to. 1797. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 " To promote the Fine Arts in Britain has become of greater importance than is generally imagined." 
 
 LORD KAIMES. 
 
 A preface furnishes an author with an opportunity of reviewing - himself ; and, 
 in the present age of literary criticism and fastidiousness, every writer will find 
 it necessary, however careful he may he at the commencement of a work, to 
 scrutinize it when completed. The Editor has done this, and candidly avows 
 that his anticipations at the beginning, and sentiments at the conclusion, are 
 not strictly in unison. At first it was thought that it would be easy to bring 
 into one work a concentration of talent, and thus produce excellence ; but this 
 is either wholly impracticable, or extremely difficult to be attained: for the 
 present volume is neither what it ought to have been, nor equal to the Editor's 
 intentions. To explain the reasons, however, would subject him to personal 
 animosities, in addition to those he has already encountered. Suffice it to 
 assert, that he has strenuously endeavoured to produce a work truly respectable, 
 and honourable to the present state of English art and English literature. It 
 is believed that the associated powers of the pen and the graver may be 
 judiciously and usefully employed to the mutual advantage of each other: to 
 promote the cause of the Fine Arts, satisfy the impartial artist, and gratify the 
 refined connoisseur. Whilst the well executed engraving captivates the sight, 
 the apposite dissertation is calculated to afford all requisite information ; and at 
 the same time may be made to rouse the best principles of patriotism, by 
 exciting reverence, and encouragement for native talent. 
 
 At the commencement of this work it was thought advisable to embrace the 
 three classes of " the Fine Arts of the English School," and to illustrate these 
 by highly-finished engravings, accompanied by historical and critical essays. 
 The plates were intended to display the various and best styles of engraving; 
 to satisfy the demands of the painters and sculptors, from whose works they 
 were executed : in pleasing them it was inferred the prints would gratify the 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 public. In the different essays, it was proposed to solicit the literary aid of 
 men of talents and judgment ; and all the subordinate parts, of paper, printing 1 , 
 &c. were to be of the best kind. As the Royal Academy is appropriated to 
 painting-, sculpture, and architecture, it was deemed proper and just to include 
 the three, i. e. the " utile et dulce," within the compass of our work. St. 
 Paul's church was chosen for the first architectural subject; and this was to 
 have been followed by views, sections, &c. of the most celebrated picture-galleries 
 in Eng'land. It was soon found that the architectural plates were deemed 
 irrelevant, and this class was omitted, after one set of plates was finished. Some 
 of the memoirs are said to be not strictly analogous to the arts and artists. 
 Admitted ; but let it be remembered that the reader will not find, in any other 
 work, such ample accounts of Dunning- and Granby. The memoirs of Romney 
 and Reynolds are the productions of gentlemen not accustomed to literary 
 composition, but their opinions are sound and authoritative, because both are 
 men of professional talents, and well qualified to appreciate their respective 
 subjects. Of the smaller essays, four are from the pen of Mr. Robert Hunt, 
 whose critical Essays on Art have been long respected 2 . To the writers of 
 the various essays, the Editor is much obliged ; and to the following- noblemen 
 and g-entlemen he respectfully presents his grateful thanks : — The Marquis of 
 Stafford ; Sir John Leicester; Thomas Hope, Esq. ; J. P. Anderdon, Esq. ; Thomas 
 L. Parker, Esq. ; B. West, Esq. ; John Soane, Esq. ; Thomas Phillips, Esq. ; James 
 Northcote, Esq. ; Henry Howard, Esq. ; John Flaxman, Esq. ; Joseph Nollekens, 
 Esq. ; Prince Hoare, Esq. ; Joseph Gandy, Esq ; and J. L. Bond, Esq. 
 
 In behalf of the essays signed J. B. the Editor intreats some lenity and mercy 
 from the acute critic ; for he wrote them under the impression of considerable 
 diffidence. However defective they may be in style, or criticism, he has been 
 particularly solicitous to furnish the reader with explicit information relating- to 
 each subject, and at the same time render impartial justice to every artist. 
 
 Feb. 1812. J- BRITTON. 
 
 1 For the care and skill displayed in the typography of this volume, the Editor cheerfully presents 
 his thanks to the Printer: to secure equal care in working the copper-plates, the names of the 
 respective printers were engraved in each. 
 
 a Some of these may be seen in a very interesting work, of " Outlines from West's Gallery," 
 etched in a masterly style by H. Moses. 
 
AN ESSAY 
 
 TOWARDS A HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. PAUL, LONDON: 
 
 WITH 
 
 A CONCISE ACCOUNT OF THE EDIFICES WHICH HAVE PREVIOUSLY OCCUPIED THE SAME SITE. 
 
 By EDMUND AIKIN, Architect. 
 ILLUSTRATED BY PLATES, FROM DRAWINGS BY 
 
 James aElmes, atcfntect. 
 
 Among the modern works of architecture which adorn and dignify the British 
 empire, the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, London, holds the most distin- 
 guished place. Even with foreigners it has obtained great celebrity ; and in 
 any enumeration, or comparison, of the religious edifices of Europe, is always 
 mentioned immediately after the Roman St. Peter's. This building, therefore, 
 the just boast of a pious and liberal age, forms the leading- article in the archi- 
 tectural department of the present work ; and it will be the endeavour of the 
 writer of the subsequent essay, after giving a very concise historical account of 
 the edifices which have previously occupied the same site, to enter into a detailed 
 examination of the existing cathedral, and to indicate and explain, with freedom 
 and impartiality, its merits and defects: — merits which we owe to the genius 
 and profound science of the distinguished architect, and defects partly imputable 
 to that law of nature which has denied perfection to human works, and partly 
 to the prejudices and defective taste of the times. 
 
 It has been thought, that during the establishment of the Romans in Britain, 
 a temple to Diana had occupied the same situation as the subsequent church of 
 St. Paul, and this opinion is said to have been confirmed by the digging- up, at 
 diiFerent times, of the horns and sculls of animals supposed to have been 
 
 B 
 
'2 
 
 ARCHITECTURE : ST. PAULS CATHEDRAL. 
 
 sacrificed : but Sir Christopher Wren, who found no such indications in all his 
 researches and excavations, gave little credit to the common tradition. However 
 this may be, it appears that one of the earliest christian churches in England 
 was erected upon this site about the year 610, by King Ethelbert, who had been 
 converted to Christianity by St. Augustine. 
 
 Erkenwald, the fourth bishop of London, who died in 685, expended large 
 sums upon this church ; but whether for additions, or to complete Ethelbert's 
 plan, is not ascertained : he also augmented its revenues, and procured for it 
 considerable privileges from the Pope, and the Anglo-Saxon princes who then 
 reigned in England. This munificent prelate being canonized at his death, 
 his body was placed in a splendid shrine at the east end of the church, where 
 for several ages it attracted the devotion and admiration of the pious. The 
 establishment of the cathedral continued in a prosperous state during the reigns 
 of the kings of the Saxon race, by most of whom it was enriched with endow- 
 ments of lands. Consumed by an accidental fire in the year 961, it was imme- 
 diately rebuilt; but in 10S7 it was again destroyed, by a conflagration which 
 enveloped the greater part of the metropolis. At this time Maurice, or 
 Mauritius, bishop of London, conceived the vast design of erecting the magni- 
 ficent structure which immediately preceded the present cathedral : much of 
 the stone used in the building was brought from Caen, in Normandy; and 
 the materials of an extensive castle in the neighbourhood, called the Palatine- 
 Tower, were granted by the king for the same purpose; but such was the 
 magnitude of the new edifice, that it was completed neither by Maurice, nor 
 by his successor De Belmeis, though each presided twenty years, and expended 
 his whole revenue in the undertaking. 
 
 The succeeding bishops, Gilbertus Universalis and Robertus de Sigillo, are 
 not known to have done any thing towards the completion of the church ; 
 but the second De Belmeis followed his uncle's example, by contributing largely 
 towards the work. In 1135 it was again exposed to the injuries of fire, which 
 consumed all that was combustible. The enterprise of that age was not 
 however to be repressed even by such repeated disasters, for in 1221 the central 
 tower was finished; and in 1229, bishop Niger undertook to rebuild the choir 
 in a newer style of architecture, and of enlarged dimensions. This being- 
 completed in 1240, the grand ceremony of consecration was performed by the 
 
architect: — sir Christopher wren. 
 
 3 
 
 bishop of London, assisted by cardinal Otho the Pope's legate, the archbishop of 
 Canterbury, and six bishops, in the presence of Henry III. and a vast concourse 
 of dignitaries, nobles, and citizens. The cathedral was further enlarged by the 
 addition of the Lady Chapel, eastward of the choir: these new works, as they 
 are called in the records of the church, were begun in 1256, and terminated 
 about 1312, in which year we find a contract for paving this additional building 
 with marble, at five-pence per foot. 
 
 In 1315, a great part of the timber spire, being decayed, was rebuilt, and a 
 new cross erected at the top, in the ball of which various holy relics were 
 enclosed, in the hope that they would preserve the structure from further injuries. 
 In the same year an exact measurement was taken of the church, by which the 
 length was found to be 690 feet, the breadth 130 feet, the height of the nave, 
 from the floor to the top of the vaulting, 102 feet, and the height of the new 
 fabric, meaning - the choir, 88 feet. The altitude of the tower, from the level 
 ground, was 260 feet, and of the spire 274 feet; and yet, according- to Dugdale, 
 who gives these dimensions, the total height did not exceed 520 feet: this 
 difference may be accounted for, by supposing the height of the former to have 
 been taken to the top of the battlements, or pinnacles, and the latter to have 
 been reckoned from its base ; a mode of measurement which might easily create 
 an excess of 14 feet over the total height. 
 
 The lofty spire was fired by lightning in 1444 ; at this time the conflagration 
 was arrested by the exertions of the morrow-mass priest of Bow-church ; but in 
 1561, the steeple being again fired, either from the preceding cause, or by the 
 negligence of a plumber, was entirely consumed, together with the whole roof 
 of the cathedral. A liberal subscription, headed by the queen, soon repaired the 
 damages, with the exception of the spire, which was never rebuilt. 
 
 There must have been some very considerable defect of solidity in the original 
 construction of this immense fabric, for in the time of James I. it appears to have 
 become ruinous throughout ; and though large sums of money were collected 
 and materials provided, it remained in the same state till the elevation of Laud 
 to the see of London. This prelate exerted himself zealously and successfully 
 in favour of the neglected building ; and a general subscription, supported in 
 a munificent manner by King Charles, was soon collected to the amount of 
 ,£101,330 4s. 8<Z. Having thus amply provided the necessary means for an 
 
4 
 
 ARCHITECTURE : ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. 
 
 entire restoration of the church, the celebrated Inigo Jones was appointed to 
 superintend the important undertaking-. How he executed the task will be 
 shewn in a future part of this essay. The repairs were begun in 1633; and 
 being- diligently prosecuted, in the course of nine years a magnificent portico 
 was erected at the west end, the whole exterior of the body of the church was 
 new cased with stone, and the roofing- and lead covering were completed. The 
 vaulting-, which stood greatly in need of reparation, was well centered and 
 upheld with some hundreds of tall masts. 
 
 Such was the situation of the building- when the dissensions between the King- 
 and Parliament broke out into civil war. From this period, so fatal to the 
 monuments of ecclesiastical antiquity, most of the cathedrals in the kingdom 
 date considerable losses; but the cathedral of London, whose citizens had 
 adopted the popular side in politics and religion with peculiar zeal, suffered 
 beyond all example. Having- confiscated the revenues of the church, the Parlia- 
 ment seized all the remaining money and materials which had been appropriated 
 to the repairs. The scaffolds and centres were granted to the soldiers of Colonel 
 Jephson's regiment for arrears of pay, who removed them with so little caution, 
 that great part of the vaulting- followed. The choir was still used for public 
 worship, but the rest of the building was converted into stables and barracks 
 for dragoons, while the pavement was, in various parts, broken up for saw-pits. 
 
 Thus this grand and venerable edifice continued exposed to every wanton, or 
 fanatical, or rapacious injury, till the restoration of the ancient order of things 
 under King Charles II. The regular government of the church being- re-esta- 
 blished, the dean and chapter proceeded immediately to remove the incroach- 
 ments, and to restore the stalls and other appendages of cathedral worship ; but 
 their revenues not affording- the means for a general reparation without liberal 
 assistance, another subscription was solicited and received, and the repairs were 
 commenced in 1663. Sir John Denham, the surveyor-general, had the super- 
 intendance of the works ; but it appears from the " Parentalia," that Sir 
 Christopher, then Doctor Wren, was employed to make a survey of the building-, 
 the result of which is given in an elaborate report contained in the work referred 
 to. In this paper the architect, after remarking- on the original bad construction 
 of the body of the church, and recommending- a new and massy casing- of stone, 
 pronounces a final condemnation upon the tower, which, together with adjacent 
 
architect: — sir Christopher wren. 
 
 5 
 
 parts, he represents as " such a heap of deformities, that no judicious architect 
 will think it corrigible by any expense that can be laid out upon new dressing- 
 it; but that it will still remain unworthy the rest of the work, infirm and 
 tottering-." He therefore proposes a bold alteration of the primitive form, 
 " by cutting off the inner corners of the cross, to reduce the middle part into a 
 spacious dome or rotunda, with a cupola or hemispherical roof; and upon this 
 cupola, for the outward ornament, a lantern with a spiring- top to rise propor- 
 tionally, but not to that unnecessary height of the former spire." The reader 
 of this passage, who is conversant in the architectural antiquities of this country, 
 will probably remark with some surprise the coincidence of this project of 
 Wren's with the plan actually practised at Ely cathedral ; where the central 
 tower having- fallen in 1322, was replaced by the beautiful octagon dome, or 
 lantern which forms the most distinguished ornament of that building-. Whether 
 Doctor Wren was acquainted with this circumstance, would probably be now 
 impossible to discover ; for the history of our cathedrals was at that time little 
 known, and their architecture despised. It may however be observed, that the 
 plan of the cathedral at Ely presents some considerable conformities with that 
 of the modern St. Paul's. This proposal of the great architect does not appear 
 to have been much approved by his employers, and the public opinion was 
 expressed strongly for retaining the tower, in the ancient form. But the great 
 fire of London, occurring in 1666, at length decided the question. Again this 
 unfortunate building became a prey to the flames, which consuming the roof 
 and precipitating- the vaulting, weakened, cracked, and ruined the walls and 
 piers in such a manner, that they were judged incapable of repair. Still some 
 years of irresolution and fruitless labour elapsed, till it was finally determined 
 to erect a new cathedral, in a style worthy of the nation and of the occasion. 
 Such was the fate of this grand and venerable edifice ; and, like many other 
 monuments of antiquity, it might have passed into oblivion had not that meri- 
 torious antiquary, Dugdale, with the assistance of Hollar, preserved in his 
 history of St. Paul's some considerable memorials of its form and decorations. 
 
 The ancient cathedral of St. Paul must always be regarded as one of the 
 great works of the architecture of the middle ages : in magnitude of dimension 
 it far surpassed every other religious edifice in this country, and it is represented 
 
 c 
 
6 ARCHITECTURE : ST. PAUL S CATHEDRAL. 
 
 by historians as equally pre-eminent in magnificence and splendour of ornament. 
 The general form of the plan was a simple cross with a very long choir, and a 
 transept rather short in proportion to the extreme length of the building. The 
 body of the church was in the Norman style of architecture ; huge clustered 
 pillars on each side divided the nave from the ailes, and supported large semi- 
 circular arches : immediately above these extended an open gallery, with arcades 
 of the same form and width as those below, but of a much shorter proportion. 
 From this level a different mode of building prevailed, for the windows above 
 the gallery were pointed. The vaulting which covered the nave was also in the 
 pointed form, of the simplest groined construction, with soffite and diagonal ribs 
 only ; similar to Salisbury cathedral and the transept of Westminster abbey- 
 church. Slender circular shafts, placed against the centre of each pier, rose from 
 the pavement without any interruption of mouldings, and received the springing 
 of the arches ; and the transept was in the same style as the nave. Thus we may 
 conjecture that the original work of Maurice and De Belmeis comprehended 
 the body of the church, as high as the gallery ; the vaulting being undoubtedly 
 part of those works which, in the preceding historical sketch, are mentioned as 
 completed in 1221 ; and it thus became one of the earliest examples of the use 
 of pointed arches in this country. Sir Christopher Wren was of opinion that 
 this Norman building had been erected upon the remaining foundations of the 
 more ancient Saxon church, for those he found to be composed of Kentish rubble 
 stone cemented with mortar of extreme hardness, both being much superior to 
 the materials used in the superstructure. At the intersection of the nave with 
 the transept, four massy piers supported the tower ; and from this part a broad 
 flight of steps led to the choir, which was enclosed by a magnificent screen 
 elaborately adorned with niches and statues. The choir, a grand specimen of 
 the architecture of Henry the Third's time, was completely in the pointed arch 
 style, with a vault of a more complicated structure than that of the nave, each 
 severy being composed of five ribs. The lady chapel, at the end of the choir, 
 was a continuation of the building in the same form and style, and terminated at 
 the eastern extremity by a rose-window of extraordinary size and magnificence. 
 A spacious and lofty crypt, extending beneath the eastern part of the cathedral, 
 was appropriated to religious rites under the designations of the church of St. 
 
ARCHITECT : SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN. 
 
 7 
 
 Faith, and the chapel of Jesus. Three ranges of massy piers, enveloped with 
 slender cylindrical shafts, divided the area into four equal ailes, and supported a 
 high-pitched vault of the simplest groined construction. 
 
 Amongst the decorations of the church, the high altar and the shrine of St. 
 Erkenwald are celebrated as prodigies of splendour, in costly materials and 
 exquisite workmanship. Every part of the cathedral contained monuments, but 
 they were particularly clustered in the choir. These, though not comparable in 
 number, or in elegance to the tombs in the rival abbey-church of Westminster, 
 were many of them remarkable for antiquity, for beauty, or from the characters 
 whom they commemorated. Of this number were the tomb of John of Gaunt, 
 a rich but not very graceful canopy of tabernacle work, from which were 
 suspended his cap, shield, and ponderous lance ; the shrine of the holy bishop 
 Roger Niger, the builder of the choir; the monuments of Henry Lacie, the 
 great earl of Lincoln ; Sir Simon de Burley ; Dean Colet, the founder of St. 
 Paul's school ; the Secretary Walsingham ; Lord Hatton ; Sir Nicholas Bacon ; 
 and Doctor Donne. 
 
 The exterior of the building presented a curious medley of the architectural 
 styles of different ages. At the western front Inigo Jones had erected a portico 
 of the Corinthian order; thus displaying a signal example of that bigotry in 
 taste, which only admitting one mode of beauty, is insensible to the superior 
 claims of order and congruity. This portico was, however, singly considered, a 
 grand and beautiful composition, and not inferior to any thing of the kind which 
 modern times have produced. Fourteen columns, each rising to the lofty height 
 of forty-six feet, were so disposed that eight, with two pilasters placed in front, 
 and three in each flank, formed a square peristyle, and supported an entablature 
 and balustrade, which was crowned with statues of kings, the predecessors of 
 Charles I. who claimed the honour of this fabric. Had the whole front been 
 accommodated to Roman architecture, it might have deserved praise as a 
 detached composition ; but though cased with rustic work, and decorated with 
 regular cornices, the pediment retained the original Gothic character in its 
 equilateral proportions, and it was flanked by barbarous obelisks and ill-designed 
 turrets. A representation of this curious elevation is given in the works of 
 Inigo Jones, edited by Kent. The great restorer of Roman architecture in 
 
s 
 
 ARCHITECTURE ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. 
 
 this country, was doubtless pleased with an opportunity of triumphing' over the 
 Gothic style of building in one of its strong holds ; and it must be allowed that 
 he only followed the example of the architects of the middle ages themselves, 
 who have generally shewn as little moderation and respect for the works of 
 their predecessors ; since we every where find the styles of different eras 
 engrafted upon each other in the most crude and undisguised contrast. 
 
 Proceeding' in our examination, it appears that the whole exterior of the 
 body of the church had been cased and reformed in the same manner, which 
 had obliterated every detail of antiquity, and left only the general forms and 
 proportions. The buttresses were converted into regular piers, and a complete 
 cornice crowned the whole. Of the windows, some were bare unornamented 
 apertures, while others were decorated in a heavy Italian manner with archi- 
 trave dressings, brackets, and cherubic heads. The transepts presented fronts 
 of the same incongruous style as the western elevation, and without any of its 
 beauties. 
 
 At the centre of the cross the great tower rose aloft in pre-eminent grandeur : 
 this was in the simple style of the early pointed architecture. In each side 
 three remarkably lofty windows, and the same number above, but of a shorter 
 proportion, gave an original character to the tower with an air of great lightness 
 and beauty. This was the foundation of an immense spire, of which however 
 there is no accurate representation, for though Dugdale gives a view of the 
 church in its entire state, yet this could not have been taken by him from 
 personal inspection, neither does he mention any authority, and we may observe 
 that the style of the spire there exhibited is evidently not authentic. At each 
 ano-le enormous arched buttresses, the irregular additions of various repairs, had 
 been erected to secure the declining tower. The rest of the building, eastward 
 of the transept, remained in its original form, a fabric of pointed arches and 
 flying buttresses. In the east front the most remarkable object was the rose- 
 window which constituted the principal ornament of the lady chapel. 
 
 Like other ancient religious edifices, this cathedral had numerous depen- 
 dencies: some of which were — The chapter-house, an octagon building of a 
 rich and elegant pointed style, and surrounded by a cloister two stories in 
 height, of great beauty : — The clochier, or bell-tower, standing at the cast end 
 
ARCHITECTURE : SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN. 
 
 9 
 
 of the church-yard, was a very ancient building-, to which had been added, 
 about the time of Henry III. a spire of timber and lead. It contained four 
 large bells, which, with the spire and an image of St. Paul, having- been staked 
 at hazard by Henry VIII. were won and taken down by Sir Miles Partridge. 
 
 It being at length determined to erect a new cathedral, Sir Christopher 
 Wren was nominated to the superintendence of this important undertaking. 
 To form a just estimate of the talents employed in conducting a work of 
 magnitude and national importance, it is necessary to consider those preliminary 
 steps, and contemporary opinions, which must ever influence or control the 
 proceedings of an architect : we shall therefore condense, from the Parentalia, 
 an account of the formation of the design of the present church. Before the 
 grant of a tax upon sea-coal, which did not commence till May, 1670, it was 
 expected that the expences of the building would be defrayed by voluntary 
 contributions alone, and therefore it seemed expedient to restrict the plans to 
 an edifice of moderate bulk. Upon these considerations the architect prepared 
 a design and model of a structure with a choir, vestibule, porticoes, and a lofty 
 dome. This was applauded by persons of understanding, as containing all that 
 was necessary for the church of a metropolis, of a beautiful figure, and of an 
 expence that might reasonably have been compassed ; but being contrived in 
 the Roman style, was not so well understood and relished by others, who thought 
 it deviated too much from the old cathedral form ; while some wished for more 
 magnificence, and were unwilling that the principal church of London should 
 be inferior to any similar structure on the Continent. The architect enlarging 
 his ideas, endeavoured to gratify the connoisseurs and critics with a grand and 
 colossal design, after the best style of Greek and Roman architecture. This 
 being- much admired by some persons of judgment and distinction, a highly 
 finished model, in wood, with all its proper ornaments, was made, which was 
 carefully preserved, and at length deposited in a room over the Morning Prayer 
 Chapel of the present edifice. Sir Christopher always appeared to set a higher 
 value on this design than on any other which he had made : but the prevailing 
 prejudices interfered to raise dissatisfaction with this elaborate model, and the 
 architect finally turned his thoughts to what was called a cathedral-form, but so 
 modified as to reconcile, as nearly as possible, " the Gothic to a better mode of 
 
 » 
 
10 
 
 ARCHITECTURE : ST. PAULS CATHEDRAL. 
 
 architecture." Thus the design of the present edifice was formed, and being- 
 approved by King- Charles II. a warrant was issued under the privy seal for 
 beginning the work, May the 1st, 1675. 
 
 The first stone was laid June the 21st, following, and the works were prose- 
 cuted with so much vigour, that within ten years from the commencement, the 
 walls of the choir and side ailes were finished, with the circular porticoes at the 
 north and south sides, and the great pillars of the dome conducted to the same 
 height. Some difficulties occurred in finding funds for the prosecution of this 
 great work, but through the operation of the coal duties they all vanished; and 
 in the year 1710 the last, or highest stone at the top of the lantern, was laid by 
 Mr. Christopher Wren, son of the architect. Thus, by a fortune unusual to 
 edifices of such magnitude and labour, this church was compleated in thirty- 
 five years, under the direction of one architect, and, as it has been commonly 
 remarked as a singular coincidence, by one master mason, Mr. Strong, and 
 under one bishop of London, Dr. Henry Compton. 
 
 On investigating the exterior of St. Paul's church, we find the general form 
 to be that of a Latin cross, with an additional arm or transcept at the west end, 
 to give length to the principal front, and a semi-circular projection at the east 
 end for the altar : there are also, at the north-east, south-east, north-west, and 
 south-west angles of the cross, square projections, which, besides containing 
 staircases and vestries, serve as immense buttresses to the dome. (See the Plan.) 
 This is extremely different, both in proportions and general effect, to the plan 
 of St. Peter's, where the cross shape is scarcely marked externally. The first 
 object of attention is the Western Front, (Plate II.) which is distinguished by 
 a portico of two orders, the Corinthian and Composite, of grand dimensions, 
 and rich arrangement. A noble flight of steps, of black marble, forms a 
 basement to this portico, which is terminated at the summit by a pediment. On 
 each side is a steeple; one serving as the belfry, and the other as the clock- 
 tower : singly considered, these may be said to want repose and harmony, but 
 they are yet picturesque, and their spiring forms not only compose well with 
 the cupola in any distant view, but also give effect and elevation to the western 
 front, to which they particularly belong. Nor are they without parts of consi- 
 derable beauty. The entablature of the upper order is remarkable, as the 
 
ARCHITECTURE : SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN. 
 
 J J 
 
 consoles of the cornice occupy the whole of the frieze. In this, as in many 
 other instances, we see Sir Christopher Wren sacrificing' a particular to a general 
 effect; for this cornice, considered as the general termination of the body of 
 the building, required to be treated in a bold and striking style, rather than 
 with the delicacy proper to the order of which it constitutes a part. The idea 
 of this may probably have been taken from the upper entablature of the 
 Coliseum at Rome, where the same motives of general effect have prevailed. 
 The ornaments in this front are well executed, and though not remarkable for 
 elegance, are placed with judicious frugality so as to enrich without overloading 
 or confusing- the aspect. A very large composition in basso-relievo, repre- 
 senting the conversion of St. Paul, occupies the tympan of the pediment. This 
 is said to be the best work of the artist, Francis Bird. At the apex of the 
 pediment is placed a gigantic statue of the patron saint, while St. Peter, St. 
 James, and the four evangelists, occupy situations at his right and left hand. 
 The rest of the building is a vast fabric of a wall decorated with coupled 
 pilasters arrang-ed at regular distances, the intervals below being occupied with 
 large windows serving to light the side ailes, and those above, with niches, in 
 the pedestals of which are singularly inserted windows belonging to galleries 
 and rooms over the side ailes. In the whole surface of the walling the joints of 
 the stones are marked by horizontal and perpendicular channels; a simple 
 decoration, which, while it gives a vigorous expression of strength and stability, 
 has the advantage of defining and rendering conspicuous the pilasters and 
 entablatures. The entrance doors of the transcepts are marked by semi-circular 
 porticoes ; objects equally beautiful, whether considered separately or in 
 connection with the total mass of the building, which they adorn and diversify 
 by the contrast of curved with straight lines, and of insulated columns with 
 engaged pilasters. 
 
 At the centre, formed by the crossing- of the nave and transcept, rises an 
 ample Cupola, which is the most remarkable and magnificent feature of the 
 building. Upon a high circular basement is erected a cylindrical wall, called 
 by the French tour du dome, for which we have no technical expression. This 
 is surrounded by a Corinthian peristyle, so placed as to conceal the projecting 
 buttresses of the cupola; and thus, by a happy combination of profound skill 
 
12 
 
 ARCHITECTURE : ST. PAUL S CATHEDRAL. 
 
 and exquisite taste, a construction adapted to oppose with insuperable solidity 
 the enormous pressures of the dome, the cone, and the lantern, is converted 
 into a decoration of the most grand and beautiful character. The idea of this 
 arrangement was doubtless taken from the interior of the Pantheon at Rome, 
 to which it bears a striking resemblance. The general disposition is divided 
 into eight parts by piers, containing- staircases with two columns attached to the 
 angles of each ; the spaces between the piers form eight recesses, having in each 
 two columns, which at a distance, and to a hasty observer, appear to be insulated, 
 but they are in fact joined to the dome-tower by walls serving as counterforts. 
 All these buttresses are, however, pierced with arcades, so as to leave a free 
 communication round this part of the cupola. The columns being- of a large 
 proportion, and placed at regular intervals, are crowned with a complete 
 entablature, which, continuing- without a single break, forms an entire circle, 
 and thus connects all the parts into one grand and harmonious whole. Above 
 the colonnade, but not resting upon it, rises an attic story with pilasters and 
 windows, from which springs the exterior dome of a bold and graceful contour, 
 and the whole is crowned by a lofty and elegant lantern. It has been said, 
 with some justice, that the columns of the cupola are too high in proportion 
 to those of the body of the building, as they are indeed little less than the 
 lower, and larger, than the upper order. This incongruity would not have 
 existed had circumstances allowed the architect to construct the main edifice of 
 a single order ; but being baffled in this, his original intention, it would have 
 been too great a sacrifice to relinquish the peristyle, the noblest feature of the 
 building, or to materially diminish the proportion of the cupola. 
 
 Comparing the cupolas of St. Peter's and St. Paul's, we shall find that though 
 one has been in a degree the model of the other, there is a material difference 
 in the decorative part, and the writer cannot but think that the advantage is 
 altogether on the side of the latter cathedral. The general idea of the 
 construction is the same, but in St. Peter's the buttresses of the dome-tower, 
 though each ornamented with two engaged columns and pilasters, are kept 
 distinct and apparent, thus projecting from the cylindrical wall as disconnected 
 parts of no agreeable form and effect. The dome also is pierced with three 
 ranges of little dormer windows, which are suffered to spot and break the 
 
ARCHITECTURE : SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN. 
 
 13 
 
 continuity of surface for the paltry consideration of lighting- the interior stair- 
 cases. The idea originated in St. Paul's has been prosecuted in the church of 
 St. Genevieve, the ci-devant Pantheon at Paris, where the appearance of a 
 peripteral temple is completely obtained, for the columns surrounding the 
 tambour are all insulated ; but it is to be lamented that the dome itself should 
 be so deficient in grandeur of dimensions and grace of proportions as to destroy 
 the effect of this beautiful decoration. 
 
 Beginning the examination of the interior of St. Paul's at the west end, we 
 find the body of the building, as to the general form, entirely upon the plan of 
 the ancient cathedrals ; an edifice of three ailes divided by piers and arches, and 
 covered with vaulting. Sir Christopher Wren has not only adopted the form 
 of building practised by the architects of the middle ages, but has imitated 
 their mode of construction; for the lofty vault of the middle aile is supported 
 by flying buttresses, concealed by an enormous screen-wall. The modern archi- 
 tect has, however, even in imitating, shown superior skill : for while the internal 
 piers of our old cathedrals are almost uniformly found to be bent inwards by 
 the lateral pressure of the vaulting, those of St. Paul's are so well proportioned 
 as to exhibit no deviation from perpendicularity. The architectural detail is 
 in the Roman style, simple and regular. But the vaulting of the ailes merits 
 higher praise for its light and elegant construction ; in this, each severy forms a 
 flat dome supported by four spandrels; a rich wreath of foliage encircles the 
 base of the dome, while the centre and the spandrels afford spaces well adapted, 
 and probably intended, to receive ornamental paintings. The western transcept 
 is a beautiful part of the building ; here insulated columns and screens of iron 
 railing separate from the ailes, at each side, the Morning Prayer Chapel and the 
 Consistory. 
 
 Proceeding in our examination, we come to the intersection of the nave and 
 transcept. This part differs from every church with which the writer is 
 acquainted, with the exception of the cathedral of Ely, in the circumstance of 
 being pierced by the side ailes, thus having eight openings instead of four, 
 which is the usual practice. This construction has the advantage of superior 
 lightness, it affords striking and picturesque views in various directions, and 
 gives greater unity to the whole area of the building ; on the other hand the 
 
 E 
 
14 
 
 ARCHITECTURE : ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. 
 
 junction of the side ailes with the central area presented difficulties which 
 have caused various defects and mutilations in the architecture. The central 
 area is an octagon formed by eight piers with as many apertures, four of which, 
 being those which terminate the middle ailes, are forty feet wide, while the 
 others are only twenty-eight feet; but this disparity only exists as high as the 
 first order of pilasters, at which level the smaller openings are expanded in a 
 manner not easily to be explained in words, but which may be seen in the 
 Section — Plate III. — so that the eight main arches are all equal. Spandrels 
 between the arches form the area into a circle, which is crowned by a large 
 cantilever cornice, partly supporting, by its projection, the Whispering Gallery. 
 At this level commences the interior tambour of the dome, consisting of a high 
 pedestal and an order of pilasters, the intervals of which are occupied by twenty- 
 four windows and eight niches, corresponding with the intercolumniations and 
 piers of the exterior. All this part is inclined forward, so as to form the 
 frustrum of a cone. From a double plinth, above the cornice of the pilasters, 
 springs a dome of a contour formed by two segments of a circle, which if not 
 interrupted by an opening would intersect at the apex. 
 
 The Choir is of the same form and architectural style as the body of the 
 church, and is terminated by a semicircular apsis. The stalls and enclosures, 
 though not remarkable for elegance of design, are valuable for their ornamental 
 carving, which is by the masterly hand of Gibbons. 
 
 In surveying the decorative parts of the interior of St. Paul's, it must be 
 acknowledged that the general impression is that of simplicity bordering upon 
 meanness and nudity ; a defect which implies no censure on the great architect 
 who has left his work in that state to receive the ornament of painting and 
 sculpture which the frugality and the bigotry of following times have withheld. 
 The few ornaments which exist are in general well executed, and disposed 
 with judgment; the soffites of the grand arches under the cupola are in the 
 best style of simple and appropriate decoration ; the dome is painted by Sir 
 James Thornhill, who has deformed this beautiful vault with an absurd and 
 heavy fictitious architecture, serving as a frame to eight pictures, representing 
 so many actions of the patron saint. It is to be lamented, that instead of 
 placing historical paintings in a situation where the spectator can distinguish 
 
ARCHITECTURE : SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN. 
 
 IS 
 
 nothing but the most obvious and general effect, some other system of deco- 
 ration had been adopted, such as the caissons of the Pantheon, which following' 
 and according- with the architecture instead of contradicting it, would have 
 defined and embellished its forms. The interior of St. Paul's has of late years 
 been materially improved by the national monuments, which, being placed so as 
 to respect the architectural members, are valuable merely as ornaments, inde- 
 pendently of the higher feelings which they are calculated to excite. 
 
 Those who have criticised the cathedral of St. Paul have charged it with 
 various defects, of which the following may be regarded as a tolerably compre- 
 hensive summary. A great and essential want of proportion between the cupola 
 and the body of the building. The division of the exterior into two nearly 
 equal stories by two orders of columns and pilasters ; and the coupling of the 
 columns in the western facade. In the interior the omission of the architrave 
 and freize of the order in the spaces between the g-reat pilasters of the nave, 
 for the purpose of raising- the summits of the arches above the level of the 
 architrave. The circumstance of the tambour of the dome being- inclined 
 forward out of the perpendicular; and lastly, the awkward junction of the side 
 ailes with the central area beneath mutilated arches. 
 
 That these censures are altogether unfounded, no real lover and judge of 
 the art will venture to maintain ; nor on the contrary will he admit them 
 without seriously considering the theory of modern architecture upon which 
 they are founded, and the peculiar circumstances of the building. In the first 
 place the writer of this article knows of no rule to determine the relative 
 proportions between the cupola and the body of a cathedral. That the cupola 
 of St. Peter's is less in proportion than that of St. Paul's, is of itself no argu- 
 ment against the latter building-, though it may be suspected that this reproach 
 has originated rather from the authority of the Roman edifice than any natural 
 rule of taste. From the first introduction of domes into modern architecture, 
 by Bruneleschi, at the church of Santa Maria dei Fiori, at Florence, which was 
 the immediate model of the superb cupola of St. Peter's; these have been 
 considered as the most appropriate, as they are the most considerable ornaments 
 of all important religious edifices. Thus they have constituted an object of 
 rivalry among architects, and it may be readily conceived that a skilful and 
 
16 
 
 architecture: — st. Paul's cathedral. 
 
 ambitious artist would be tempted rather to exceed than to fall short in the 
 proportionate size and magnificence of his cupola. But this cupola does not 
 belong', as an ornament, to the cathedral of St. Paul alone, but to London in 
 general, which in every distant view it crowns with such suqmssing glory ; and, 
 considered in this light, the coldest critic, the most rigid theorist, could not 
 wish to subtract a particle from its rich exuberance. With respect to the 
 general division of the body of the building into two orders of architecture, 
 we have the authority of the architect himself, as expressed in the Parcntalia, 
 and exhibited in his favourite model in favour of a single order ; but in this 
 point he was obliged to y ield to circumstances, as the Portland quarries would 
 not afford stones of the required dimensions. This necessity led to another, 
 the coupling the order, and shows that there is often a local propriety and a 
 local beauty of superior importance to general and theoretical rules. On an 
 inspection of the ground plan of the building, it will be seen that the external 
 pilasters are placed at intervals corresponding to the interior piers, an arrange- 
 ment which could not be deviated from, and therefore it was most clearly 
 necessary to double them to obtain any tolerable intercolumniation. This 
 necessity does not exist in the western facade, but here Sir Christopher Wren 
 probably felt that being obliged to place two stories of columns one above the 
 other, to dispose them singly would have produced an appearance of lightness, 
 perhaps of elegance, but would have wanted the mass and imposing- effect 
 proper to the chief front of such an edifice. He therefore coupled the columns, 
 thus producing a disposition which, while it is rich by the number and contrast 
 of its parts, does yet present large divisions and conspicuous masses. It is evident 
 that the architect did not, independently of these considerations, prefer coupled 
 columns, for in the north and south porticoes, and in the peristyle of the dome, 
 where only one story of columns is employed, he has arranged them singly; but 
 in the western facade he has shown superior judgment in making- the greatest 
 advantage of the means allotted to him, and has composed a front, which, if it 
 yield to the simple grandeur of the Roman Pantheon, is not surpassed in richness 
 and characteristic effect by any modern church. It may well be doubted whether 
 the exterior division of St. Paul's into two stories is so decidedly faulty as has 
 been rather assumed than argued; we know that the Gothic cathedrals owe 
 
architecture: — sir Christopher wren. 17 
 
 their effect to their intricacy of form and minutious detail of parts and orna- 
 ments : and on the other hand, in respect to St. Peter's, it is certain that the 
 exterior of that colossal edifice is, to use the words of a late traveller, " much 
 less striking- than can well he imagined ;" and it uniformly deceives the observer, 
 by appearing - of much smaller dimensions than it really is. This effect, which 
 has been generally quoted as a proof of just proportions, and therefore praised 
 as a beauty, though, as Mr. Knight remarks, " if it be a merit to make it 
 appear small, it certainly was extreme folly to incur such immense expense in 
 building it large," is produced by having- all the parts and objects of extraor- 
 dinary magnitude ; and thus the eye, in taking any of these as a scale to measure 
 the total size of the building, is deceived in the outset. That the parts of a 
 large building should be large, is a maxim which can only be admitted with 
 considerable limitations. As to the omission of the architrave of the order 
 above the arches of the interior, we are informed in the Parentalia, that in 
 this respect Sir Christopher Wren " always insisted that he had the ancients 
 on his side ; in the Temple of Peace, in the great halls of the baths, and in all 
 the great structures of three ailes, this is done, and for this reason, that in those 
 wide intercolumniations the architrave is not supposed to lie from one great 
 column to another, but from the column to the wall of the aile, so that the end 
 of it only will appear upon the pillar of the inside of the great navis." This 
 is a sufficient answer to those rig-ourists in criticism who would subject the 
 composition of a cathedral to the same strict rules which limited the Grecian 
 temples ; and it shows that the architect had studied those antique examples 
 which, if not of the purest taste in ornament, were yet the most analogous in 
 general form to the edifice which he had to construct. But though this was 
 the ostensible excuse, it was not the real reason; for upon referring to the 
 Section of St. Paul's, it will be seen that Sir Christopher Wren has made the 
 pilasters of the interior a little higher than the external columns, and they could 
 not be much more without a certain incongruity; but wishing to give the 
 arches opening into the ailes as much elevation, and consequently lightness, as 
 the design admitted, he chose to encroach on the entablature of the order: 
 thus, by a slight violation of general rules, improving the total effect of his 
 building, and satisfied that a few antique authorities afforded him the means of 
 
 F 
 
IS 
 
 ARCHITECTURE 
 
 st. Paul's cathedral. 
 
 silencing the critics. The forward inclination of the tambour of the dome has 
 a considerable advantage in construction, and as it is so slight as not to be 
 readily discernible from below, the objection founded on this circumstance must 
 be regarded as frivolous. It is not impossible that it may even be advantageous, 
 by showing-, in its full proportion, a part which might otherwise, at that extreme 
 height, be disagreeably fore-shortened. The defects in the junction of the side 
 ailes with the rotunda cannot be justified, but they are balanced by the advan- 
 tages previously mentioned. 
 
 According to the large plan published by Gwyn, the exterior length of the 
 building- from east to west, exclusive of the projection of the portico, appears to 
 be 502 feet, and from north to south, excluding the two circular porticoes, 244- 
 feet; the breadth of the western front 177 feet, the diameter of the octagonal 
 area, at the crossing of the nave and transcept, 107 feet, the diameter of the 
 tambour of the dome 112 feet, and the diameter of the dome itself 102 feet. 
 The total height from the pavement of the church-yard to the top of the cross 
 is 370 feet. The whole expense of the building amounted to ,^£747,954. 3*. 
 which was chiefly defrayed by a duty on coals imported into London ; but not 
 less than J?126,604. Gs. 5d. was furnished by voluntary contributions, chiefly 
 from the clergy. 
 
 PLATES. 
 
 The FIRST PLATE contains a Plan of the Basement Story, and shows the form of the massy 
 foundation walls and the vaulting of the crypts. These vast sepulchral chambers receive from large 
 windows a partial light, interrupted by gloomy intervals of strong shadow and total darkness. — The 
 Geometrical Elevation, PLATE II. exhibits the most interesting parts of the building, the western 
 facade, the towers, and the cupola, with a profile of the transcepts and the circular porticoes. — In 
 the THIRD PLATE the Section shows the form and decoration of the interior, with the curious 
 construction of the cupola, consisting of an inner dome or ceiling, and a strong cone of brickwork, 
 which supports the lantern and the external wooden dome. — The FOURTH PLATE represents the 
 general appearance and picturesque effect of the building, as seen at a moderate distance from the 
 north-eastern angle. 
 
 END OF THE ACCOUNT OF ST. PAUl/s CATHEDRAL CHURCH.